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A.MiE Rl C J^ M FISHEBIKS 



A HISTORY 



OF 

THE MENHADEN 



I?' -73 



BY 



a: BROTv^N aooDE 

CUBATOB D. S. JTATIONAL MUSEUM; ASSISTANT, C. S. FISH COMMISSION; AtJTHOK OF "THE GAME FISHES OF 
NOBTH AJUEKICA ; " SPECIAL CONTEIBDTOB TO AMEBICAN AGEICUIiTUBIST 



WITH AN ACCOUNT OF THE 



AGRICULTURAL USES OF FISH 



BY 

W. O. AT^VATER 

PEOFKSSOB OF CHEMI8TEY, WESLETAN UNIVEBSITY; SPECIAL CONTBIBUTOE TO AMERICAN AGEICULTTTBISI 




And an Introduction, Bringing the Subject Down to Date 



THIRTY PLATES 




NEW YORK 

ORANGE JUDD COMPANY 

245 BROADWAY 
1880 






3 ;i ' 



/5 ^ 



INTRODUCTION, 



The following HISTORY OF THE MENHADEX, having l,oon pre- 
tared for the fifth annual report of the Commissioner of Fisheries for the 
ear 1877, makes no claim to completeness for the subsequent years, though 
nucli of the history of the season of 1878 was added while the book was 
assing through the press. In this special edition of the work it has 
een thought desirable to add, in the form of an Introduction, an account 
)f several interesting observations recently made, and to include the re- 
ports of the Oil and Guano Associations down to the present time. 

The most important phase of the subject is the complete absence of the 

menhaden, in 1879, from the waters of Cape Cod, resulting in a total 

ailure of the very important fisheries on the coast of Maine. More than 

>>rty steamers went into the Gulf of Maine in July, to return in a few 

v'ceks without Avetting their nets. The total catch for 1879 was one hun- 

ired barrels of fish, taken by one of the steamers in July, in Casco Bay. 

vfr. R. E. Earll, who visited the Booth Bay region in September, thus 

scribes the general distress which is the result : " The total absence of 

argies is causing no little loss to all interested. The shore fishermen have 

ost fully half of their time and over half of their usual catch from not 

oeing able to get any porgies to fish with, while the ' George'smen ' from 

'"lape Ann have been driven far out of their way, going even to Rhode 

ib.and and Connecticut to obtain their usual supply of i)orgy bait. Some 

ave ventured to seek bait here, in the ' hedges ' and traps of the river 

ishermen, and have frequently taken river-pilots and gone far up the 

Kennebec, often waiting fully a week before getting their supply. The 

oil and guano factories had gone to considerable expense in getting ready 

ft)r the season's work, and their property is entirely idle. The factory 

hands and steamers' crews have been thrown entirely out of employment, 

.and are perhaps less able than any of the other classes intei-ested to bear 

such a loss. The general prosperity of the porgy fisheries, for some years 

past, has drawn to them a large class of workmen from other occui)ations. 

Some, in moving into this region, have ))nilt for tliemselves small houses, 

and have been depending on the summer's work for the means to pay for 

them or to complete them. Others have spent their entire means in getting 

their families located, and almost none have money laid up to carry them 

through the winter, and but little employment can be had from this time 

forward. They were all on hand to begin work tlie first of June, and kept 

waiting, in the hope that the fish would ' strike,' until late in August. 

When they at last gave up the idea, it was too late to engage in any other 

. occupation. A few of them have gone out in small boats to ' hook ' for 



IV INTRODUCTION. 

mackerel, but have met with indifferent success. After waiting for a long 
time for the fish to appear, the following firms allowed the crews to take 
their steamers south and sell the fish to factories there : Joseph Church 
& Co., 8 steamers ; Albert Grey & Co., 4 steamers; Gallup & Holmes, 4 
steamers ; Gallup, Morgan & Co., 3 steamers ; Fowler & Foote, 2 steam- 
ers ; George W, Miles & Co., 2 steamers ; Tuthill, French & Co., 3 steam- 
ers ; Maine Oil Co., 2 steamers. Three steamers spent a short time in 
seining mackerel, landing a total of about 550 barrels." 

The absence of menhaden north of the Cape does not seem to have been 
compensated for by any remarkable abundance in southern New England, 
where most of the other factories were located. They are said to have 
been enormously plenty on the New Jersey coast, and here as well as in 
Long Island Sound and the Chesapeake, the unusual abundance of young 
and middle-sized fish has occasioned general remark. The total catch for 
1879 will probably fall below that for 1878, although in southern New Eng- 
land it will exceed the average, owing to the unusually large number of 
steamers fishing in those waters throughout the summer. 

Mr. N. B. Church, of Tiverton, E. I., communicates to Professor Baird 
his experience in 1878 and 1879 : "I find that I caught my first school of 
porgies in 1878, May 3d, between Montauk Point and Shinnecock Light. 
There had been some caught previous to that by the Long Island fisher- 
men. The menhaden came in large bodies, and remained in this vicinity 
about four weeks. The average yield of oil was about four quarts to the 
barrel of fish. The Maine fishing commenced June 7th — a little eai'lier 
than in previous years — and the fish were a great deal plentier than they 
usually are when they make their first appearance. They were very plenty 
on the Maine coast during the season, but, contrary to custom, went further 
east, so that we were unable to catch as many as we would had they re- 
mained on their old ground. The body of porgies left the coast of Maine 
about the last of September, and on the 9th day of October Cape Cod Bay 
was alive with them ; more, I think, than I ever saw there before. Our 
fish, caught east, yielded, on an average for the season, nearly two and a 
half gallons of oil to the barrel of fish. I can't tell exactly, as I never 
figured it. We had no fishing on the Rhode Island coast, owing to 'blowy' 
weather. 

" In 1879, the first fish were caught May 6th, some ten miles southward 
of Montauk Point. They Avere very plenty for five weeks, and a large 
quantity was taken. There has been a very large body all the season be- 
tween Fire Island and Point Judith. Sometimes they were at one place 
and again at another — were moving all the time. Long Island Sound 
has been well stocked with them all summer. The steamer 'G. W. 
Humphrey,' of which I was master, caught, in 1878, 43,000 barrels ; in 
1879, 60,000 barrels. Our yield of oil has not been large this season — not 
averaging over four quarts to the barrel of fish." 

Mr. D. T, Church also describes the season of 1879 in Narragansett 
Bay : " Menhaden were found about the first of May between Montauk 



INTRODUCTION-. V 

and Sandv Hook, and tliey have not been seen east of there for any length 
of time since about the first of June. There was a heavy body seen off 
Rhode Island for ten days ; they then disappeared as suddenly as they ap- 
peared. They struck on again in July, and the waters in this vicinity 
swarmed with them for two daj-s, and then they again disappeared, and have 
not been seen since. Off Cuttyhunk, I hear, they were seen in large 
quantities in July. On the same date they appeared here, and left on the 
same day. I don't think the catch has been much larger this year than 
last. Last season they were easy to catch ; this season liard to catch. The 
result has been less catch to a steamer, but there have been more steamers, 
and the result has been about the same." 

Mr. E. L. FoAvler, of Guilford, Ct., writes as follows : "A very few 
menhaden were caught in this vicinity by the 28th of April. This was 
about as early as usual. They became abundant by the 10th of July, and 
have not yet disappeared (November 29th). They have been as plenty as 
usual in this vicinity, but on the New Jersey coast there has been an un- 
usually large quantity of them. Our firm. Fowler & Colburn, have used 
23,500,000 fish." 

Mr. Louis C. d'Homergue, of Brooklyn, writes of the season off New 
York : "The first menhaden for the season of 1879 were observed in suf- 
ficient quantities to warrant the commencing of fishing in the vicinity of 
Barren and Fire Islands on or about the first week in April. They were 
very abundant in April and May, less so in June and to September, when 
they began to scatter and spread so that it made it difficult to catch them. 
The fishermen called them ' wild.' They began to grow scarce from Sep- 
tember 1st, shoAving also less oil to the thousand, and continued so doing 
until September 23d, when, up to October Gth, there came a perfect rush 
of them, yielding more oil than they had previously : this run over, they 
again became scarcer and thinner until the fall fishing commenced. 
Another run began about the first week in November, and quite a large 
additional quantity of fish were taken. They seemed to ' bunch up ' well, 
but were poorer in oil than any previously caught, so that the fall fishing, 
in point of oil, was a failure. These fish, up to this date (November 27th), 
are lingering in our waters, but the four factories on Barren Island and the 
two on Fire Island have been closed since November 24th. My vessels 
cruised all the season between Fire Island and Barnegat." 

Mr. James E. Otis, of Tuckerton, N. J., writes : " Menhaden were 
first caught here about April 25th, or nearly two weeks earlier than usual, 
becoming abundant about the middle of May, and continued so until about 
the middle of September. They have been very plenty this season along 
the coast of New Jersey, more so than for four years past. My vessels 
have taken some 3,000,000 each, the largest single haul being 125,000." 

Mr. W. D. Hall, of Millan Creek, Va., says that in the Chesapeake re- 
gion menhaden appeared about April 1st, became abundant about May 1st, 
began to grow scarce about June 15th, and that on November 30th some 
were still in the bay. 



VI INTRODUCTION. 

Menhaden appeared in Washington (D, C.) markets February 25, 1879, 
nearly three weeks in advance of the " branch-herring," four in advance of 
the shad, and eight before the ''glut-herring." 

The cause of the unusual movements of the menhaden in 1879 is dif- 
ficult to ascertain. The idea has been suggested that they were driven 
back by the schools of blue-fish, which, by this theory, are supposed to 
have approached the coast in advance of them. This explanation seems 
scarcely satisfactory, for there is no evidence that the blue-fish were earlier 
than usual. On the other hand, there is reason to doubt whether blue-fish 
ever come near the coast until they are lured in by the presence of their 
favorite food. See the table, on page 46, which shows that for thirteen 
years the menhaden always entered Waquoit Bay from five to twenty days 
in advance of the blue-fish. In fact blue-fish, as well as menhaden, have 
been unusually scarce north of Cape Cod in 1879. 

A more satisfactory explanation is to be found in the unusual coldness 
of the water in the Gulf of Maine. The following preliminary conclusions 
have been reached, but I hope in future to be able to discuss th© subject 
more at length : 

The season of 1878, in Maine, was fairly successful, the three sum- 
mer months being warmer than in 1877, but cooler than in 187(3. The 
absence of the menhaden schools, north of Cape Cod, in 1879, may 
be explained by the study of the temperatures of the Avater of the 
Gulf of Maine, as indicated by the observations made in Portland harbor. 
The averages for the three summer months are as follows, the numerHt(n* 
of the fraction being the average surface temperature, the denominator 
that of the bottom : 

63.5 58.5 61.5 56.1 

1876, 1877, 1878, 1879, 

57.9 56.7 58.1 54.6 

The average for the three summer months of 1879 is less than that of 
June, 1876. In August, 1878, there was a very rapid fall in the tempera- 
tures of the surface in the Gulf of Maine, so that the average of that 
month was less than that of Jnly, instead of being higher, as is usual. 
This, perhaps, had the effect of driving the fish into the warmer water of 
the bays and estuaries. The monthly averages for 1876, 1877, 1878, and 
1879, are as follows : 



56.9 

1876, June, 

54.0 


66.7 

July, 

59.4 


63.9 

August, 

60.4 


54.9 

1877, June, — '- 

53.3 


58.1 

July, 

56.3 


62.4 

August, 

60.6 


56.8 

1878, June, 

55.3 


66.9 

July, 

59.3 


60.7 

August, 

59.9 


52.9 

1879, June, 

51.7 


55.9 

July, 

54.1 


59.6 

August, 

58.0 



INTRODUCTION. vil 

While it IS impossible to predict what may be the temperature of these 
waters in the future, there is little reason to fear that the absence of the 
menhaden will be permanent. Several of the leading firms have agreed to 
have water temperatures taken from their steamers in the coming season ; 
this cannot fail to throw much light on these puzzling subjects. 

The sixth annual meeting of the U. S. Menhaden Oil and Guano Asso- 
ciation was held in the United States Hotel, New York, Wednesday, January 
8, 187'.). The meeting was called to order by the President, Mr, R. L. Fowler, 
fourteen members being present. The minutes of the last meeting and 
the Treasurer's report having been approved, the following officers were 
elected : Mr. R. L. Fowler, President ; Mr. D. T. Church, First Vice- 
President ; Mr. B. F. Gallup, Second Vice-President ; Mr. H. L. Dudley, 
Secretary and Treasurer, and Captain John Luce, Messrs. T. F. Price, 
and R. L. Fowler, Executive Committee. 

The meeting adjourned subject to the call of the chairman. 

The following is the report of the Committee on Statistics for the year : 

Number of factories in operation 56 

Number of sail vessels employed 279 

Increase over 1877 ■ 9 

Number of steamers employed -< . . .^./^X. 64 

Increase over 1877 .' . . . .'. 1 

Number of men employed 3,337 

Increase over 1877 .^ .' 650 

Amount of capital invested L . T > .-^ $3,350,000 

Increase over 1877 t*--,-- co-^i- ^i " * 302,388 

Number of fish caught .^ , . 3 '^'. 776,779,250 

Increase over 1877 189,155,125 

Number of gallons oil manufactured 3,809,233 

Increase over 1877 1,392,644 

Number of tons guano made 55,164 

Less than 1877 280 

Number of tons guano dried 19,377 

Increase over 1877 13,367 

Number of gallons oil held by manufacturers January 15, 1878. 742,600 

Increase in 1878, gallons 478,600 

Number tons guano held by manufacturers, January 15, 1878. 885 

Less than in 1877 6,390 

Yield of oil per thousand, 1878, gallons 4r^ 



vni 



INTRODUCTION. 



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INTRODUCTION. IX 

In 1877 I was able to learn of but four oil and guano factories in opera- 
tion on the Chesapeake Bay, and it was not thought necessary to make a 
special survey of that region, but in that and the following season the 
industry seems to have assumed considerable dimensions. I am indebted 
to Col. Marshall McDonald, Commissioner of Fisheries for Virginia, for the 
following memorandum, which, although not prepared by him, he considers 
to be in the main correct. It is an extract from a circular, without authen- 
tication, dated '^^ Northumberland Co., Va., December, 1878." I have not 
been able to learn that the Chesapeake manufacturers are identified with 
the U. S. Oil and Guano Association. The proceeds of their industry, 
if added to those of the northern manufacturers, will considerably swell 
the statistical aggregates, increasing the total catch for 1878 to nearly 
900,000,000 of fish, the total yield of oil to over 4,000,000 barrels, and of 
guano to over 30,000 tons. 

LIST OF FIRMS ENGAGED IN THE MANUFACTURE [OF OIL AND GUANO 
FOR THE SEASON OF 1878, IN VIRGINIA. 

1. Little Bay Oil and Guano Co., Little Bay, Lancaster Co., Va. 

2. Whaley & Burgess, Mill Creek, Northumberland Co., Va. 

3. N. H. Timbs, Fairport, " << - 

4. E. W. Reed, " " " " 

5. Reed & Woodliull, Little Bay, Lancaster Co., Va. 

6. Lampson & Grinell, Pecancatauck River, Middlesex Co., Va. 

7. Taylor & Jackson, " " " " " 

8. G. T. Owens & Co., Fairport, Northumberland Co., Va. 

9. W. D. Hall & Co., Point Pleasant, Northumberland Co., Va. 
10. L. Cockerell & Co., Wicomico River, Northumberland Co., Va. 
IL O. E. Maltby, New Point Comfort, Va. 

12. Darling & Smithers, Hampton, Va. 

13. Stearns & Co., Black River, Va. 

14. Lewis Crockett, Tangier Island, Va. 

15. Henry Crockett, " " " 

"Being desirous to know the extent of the fishing interests of the 
Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries, we have looked up what information 
could be found, and herewith submit it to the careful inspection of those 
who take an interest in that direction. We find that in the year 1869 
more than usual attention was turned to this matter, and we are able to 
gather the following details of its results from a party engaged in the busi- 
ness that season, viz. : 

1869. 

Men employed on vessels fishing 12 

Vessels employed 4 

Men employed making guano 9 

Fish taken 3,000,000 

Oil made 200 bbls. 

Guano made 300 tons. 



it INTRODtJCTION. 

" The returns from those engaged in the business for 1878 is also ap- 
pended, showing an increase of products encouraging to a vigorous prose- 
cution of the enterprise, viz. : 

1878. 

Men employed on vessels fishing 286 

Vessels employed fishing 78 

Men employed on shore 201 

Fish taken." 118,309,200 

Gallons of oil made 234,168 

Tons of guano 10,832 

" This industry is yet in its infancy, and the best means of handling the 
product of the fisheries of the rivers and bays of the State may not yet be 
fully understood, but with the ingenuity and energy of the fishermen and 
patronage of the farmers in the liberal use of the fertilizers made, and the 
protection of the Legislature we have no doubt that ultimately the enter- 
prise and capital employed in tliis business will realize satisfactory results." 

The much-vexed problem of the spawning habits of the menhaden has 
been advanced a step nearer to solution by Mr. D. T. Church, who sends to 
the Smithsonian Institution, November 6th, a number of specimens of 
large menhaden, taken from a large school which appeared at the mouth 
of Narragansett Bay, November 1st. These fish had the ovaries nearly 
ripe, and probably would have spawned within a month. This is a very 
satisfactory corroboration of the views supported on pages 95-100. 

Col. M. McDonald sends me four menhaden caught by him in gill-nets 
in Hampton Creek, Va., November 27th, one of which was full of nearly 
ripe eggs. Mr. d'Homergue states that the November fish at Barren Island 
are full of spawn. 

Another very important result obtained by the study of these fish, is 
the first accurate approximation to an idea of the fecundity of this species. 
I wish to cancel the estimate of tlie number of eggs in the ovary of a men- 
haden on page 90. The particles counted at that time must have been 
agglomerations of eggs, so closely united in the immature ovary as to be 
incapable of proper separation. The eggfi in the fish sent by Mr. Church 
are very much more minute than the first, and there cannot be less than 
150,000, a number far exceeding the highest estimates for shad and her- 
ring, and indicating that the menhaden must be ranked among the most 
prolific of fishes. 

The attempt of the Maine Legislature to regulate the fishery in that State 
has been of little moment, owing to the unexpected absence of the men- 
haden from that region. This movement has met with much opposition 
on the part of the oil and guano manufacturers. It is to be hoped that the 
constitutionalitv of the law will be tested in the courts. 



G. BROWN GOODE. 

Washington, D. C, Dec. 1, 187 



Smithsonian Institution, [ 

379. f 



ERRATA. 

The typographical blunders enumerated below are in large part due to the absence 
of tlie author from town when the proofs were being read. 

Page 9, line 13, insert Eastern Maryland — Pilcher or Pilchard. 

Page 44, line 39, for Daniel Y. Church read David T. Church. 

Page 66, line 9, for diagram sections read a diagram section. 

Page 68, line 34, for paragraph read paragraphs. 

Page 77, insert heading to paragraph 102, Recent changes in the northern limits of 
distriMttion. 

Page 89, line 7, for fat-fish read fat fish. 

Page 93, line 17, for ostracoda and copeopoda read Ostracoda and Copeopoda. 

Page 99, line 30, for Boardman and Atkins read Ooodale and Atkins. 

Page 115, line 1, for F. T..Ba,hson read F. J. Babson. 

Page 118, line 34, for has already been described read is described below. 

Page 120, line 28, for William T. Fithian Vi'&A. William Y. Fithian. 

Page 133, insert heading to paragraph 183, The menhaden fishery and land indus- 
tries. 

Page 161, insert heading to paragraph 334, Comments. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



Pago. 

Section A.— Introduction 1 

1. Object of the memoir I 

1. Previous memoirs of the series 1 

2. The commercial importance of the menhaden 1 

3. The imperfect knowledge regarding this -species 2 

2. Means employed in gathering inform/ition 3 

4. Circular issued. (See also Appendix A) 3 

5. Letters of inquiry sent out 3 

6. Personal studies made 3 

3. Sources of information 3 

■J. Materials in ■^he archives of the United States Fish Commission 3 

8. Personal observations and the aid of individuals 3 

9. Kesponses to the circular. (See also Appendices BandN) 4 

10. Published accounts of the species. (See also Appendixes C and D) 4 

11. The collections in the United States National Museum. (See also Appendix E> 5 

4. Sources of error which have been shunned 5 

12. The difficulty of obtaining exact information 5 

13. Prejudices and superstitions 6 

14. Inaccuracies of observation and statement 6 

Section B.— The names of the menhaden 6 

5. Popular names 6 

15. Local names and nsagea 6 

16. The geographical distribution of popular names 7 

17. A table showing the geographical distribution of the popular names of the men- 

haden 7 

18. Discrepancies in these names 9 

19. The name of " menhaden " claimed to be the preferable one 10 

20. Trade names of the menhaden and their liability to mislead 10 

21. Origin of the popular names of the menhaden 10 

22. " Pogy " and " menhaden " 11 

23. "Hard-head" and "bony -fish" 12 

24. "White-fish" 12 

25. "Mossbnnker" 12 

26. "Alewife " and " oldwife " 13 

27. "Bugfish" 13 

28. "Fat-back" and "yellow-tail" 14 

29. The conflict of names among the American representatives of the herring family.. 14 

6. Zoological names 15 

30. Latrobe's description of Clupea tyrannus and the reasons for adopting this specific 

name. (See also Appendix E and Plate II) 15 

31. Mitchill's description of Clupea menhaden. (See also Appendix E) 16 

32. Kafinesque's Clupea neglecta 16 

33. Belknap's Clupea dura 17 

34. Mitchill's Clupea sadina and Gronow's Clupea carolinensis 17 

35. Brevoortia patronus 17 

36. Agassiz's Clupanodon aureus 17 

37. Jenyns's Clupea pectinata 18 

38. The generic relations of the species and Gill's genus Brevoortia. (See also Appen- 

dix G) 18 

39. Revision of the American species of menhaden 16 

Section C— A description of the American species of Brevoortia with anatoihcal and 

PHYSIOLOGICAL NOTES 19 

7. Technical descriptions 19 

40. Brevoortia tyrannus (Latrobe), Goode 19 

41. Brevoortia patronus, Goode 26 

42. Brevoortia pectinata, Jenyna, Gill 30 

III 



IV TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

Page. 
Section C— A description of the American species op Bbevooutia, with anatomical and 
PHYSIOLOGICAL NOTES — Continued. 

8. Size 31 

43. Limits and relations of length .and weight .^ 31 

44. Variations in individuals of the same schools 31 

45. Kate of growth of young fish 3S 

46. 'Rate of growth of fish during their sojourn on the northern coast 33 

9. Color and other minor characteristics 33 

47. Color of northern flsh .,-■ 33 

48. Color of southern fish 33 

43. Axillary appendages 33 

."iO. Arrangement and number of scales 34 

10. Internal organs 34 

51. The strainer in the mouth of the menhaden 34 

52. The accessory branchial organ 34 

53. The alimentary canal 34 

54. The swim bladder 35 

Section D.— Geographical distribution and the movements of the schools » 35 

11. Geographical range 35 

55. Limits of range of Brevoortia tyrauTiusm 1877 35 

56. Variations in northern limit in the past 35 

57. Southern limit of range 36 

58. Oceanic limits of range 36 

59. The alleged occurrence of the true menhaden in the Golf of Mexico 36 

60. Range of other species of the genus 37 

61. The alleged occurrence of a menhaden on the west coast of 'North America 37 

12. The arrival and departures of the schools 38 

62. Causes influencing .".rrival and departure 38 

63. Material on hand for determining dates 38 

C4. Eeview of the dates of movement upon the entire coast 39 

65. Stay of the schools on the coast of Florida 39 

66. Stay on the coast of Georgia and South Carolina 39 

67. Stay on the coast of North Carolina 40 

68. Stay on the coast of Virginia and Chesapeake Bay 41 

69. Stay in Delaware Bay 41 

70. Stay on the coast of New Jersey 42 

71. Stay at the eastern end of Long Island 42 

72. Stay in Long Island Sound 42 

73. Stay in Block Island Sound 43 

74. Mr. Dudley's account of the movements of the schools ea the coast of Eastern Con- 

necticut 44 

75. Stay in Narragansett B-ay 44 

76. Stay in Martha's Vineyard Sound 45 

77. Table showing dates of appearance of menhaden at "Waquoit Weir 1859-72 46 

78. Irregularity of the movements of the schools illustrated by the returns from Wa- 

quoit Weir 46 

79. Stay of the schools on the south shore of Cape Cod 46 

80. Stay in Cape Cod Bay 47 

81. Stay about Cape Ann 48 

82. Stay in the Gulf of Maine 48 

83. Mr. Maddocks' account of the movements of the schools on the coast of Maine 50 

13. Migraticms. (See also Appendix F) 50 

84. Migrations of fishes in general, and the causes 50 

85. The influence of ocean temperatures upon the movements of the menhaden 52 

86. General considerations as to the winter retreat of summer fishes 56 

87. The theory of hibernation of sea fishes discussed with special reference to the 

mackerel 56 

88. The theory of extended migrations discussed, with special reference to the mackerel. 62 

89. The arguments .igaicst extended migrations of the menhaden 65 

90. The hypothesis of the oceanic sojourn of the menhaden 66 

91. A criticism of Eimbaud's classification, with a new classification, by habits, of east- 

coast fishes 68 

14. The movements of the schools of menhaden 70 

92. Habits of the schooling fish 70 

93. Movements of the schools to and from the surface 71 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. V 

Page. 
Section D.— Geographical distribution and the movements of the schools— Continaed. 

14. The movements of the schools of mendhaden — Continued. 

94. Differences in the swimming movements of the menhaden tnd the mackerel 71 

95. Birds attracted by the schools of fish 71 

96. The influence of wind and weather 72 

97. The movements of the herring as influenced by weather 72 

93. The influence of the tides 74 

15. Alleged changes in the haunts and habits of the menhaden 74 

99. The allegation that the menhaden schools have been driven out to sea by the fisheries. 74 

100. The opinion of Mr. Atkins upon this subject 76 

101. The opinion of Mr. Maddocks 77 

102. Eecent changes in the northern limit of distribution 77 

Section E.— Abundance of toe menuaden comparative A2»d absolute 78 

16. Abundance in the past 78 

103. Abundance before 1850, from testimony of early writers 78 

17. Abundance in the present 79 

104. Abundance on tbe coast of Maine 79 

105. Abundance on the coast of New Hampshire 81 

106. Abundance on the coast of Massachusetts 81 

107. Abundance on the coast of Ubode Island, 84 

103. Abundance on the coast of Connecticut 85 

109. Abundance on the coast of New York 87 

110. Eeview of the success of the fisheries in New England since 1865, by Mr. D. T. 

Church 88 

111. Eeview of the success of the fisheries in Long Island Sonnd since 1870, by Mr. 

George "W. Miles 88 

112. Abundance on the coast of New Jersey 90 

113. Abundance on the coast of Delaware 90 

114. Abund.ince on the coast of Maryland and Virginia 90 

115. Abundance on the coast of North Carolina 91 

116. Abundance in Florida 92 

117. Summation of evidence as to increase or decrease 92 

18. A bundance in the future 93 

118. rrobability of future decrease 93 

Section F.— Food of the menhaden 93 

19. Food 93 

119. Fishermen's ideas about the food of the menhaden 93 

120. Fishermen's ideas about the manner of feeding 93 

121. Examinations of stomach-contents 94 

122. Inferences from their examinations 94 

123. Professor Verrill's opinion as to the nutritive properties of bottom-mud 94 

124. Explanation of the evolutions of the menhaden schools 95 

125. Character of their food affecting the value of the fish for use for bait 95 

Section G.— Reproduction of the mlnuaden 95 

20. Studies of the parent fish 95 

126. Dissection of menhaden in Connecticut 05 

127. Dissections of menhaden in Maine 96 

123. Number of eggs in immature ovaries 96 

129. The foct that no ripe milt or spawn has been observed by naturalists 07 

130. A statement made by Mr. Atkins 07 

21. Studies of the young fish 98 

131. Appearance of the young south of Cape Cod 98 

132. Powers of locomotion possessed by the young 98 

22. Inferences as to tie time andi'lace of spawning 99 

133. Inferences from studies of parent and young as to the times and places of spawning. 99 

134. The opiniou.s of fishermen upon this subject -99 

135. The claim that menhaden spawn in southern rivers 100 

130. A criticism of a statement made by Professor Hind 100 

23. The possibility of artificial culture 100 

137. The claim that menhaden can bo artificially bred in the waters of the North 100 

Section H.— The enemies and fatalities of the menhaden 101 

24. Diseases of the menhaden 101 

138. Mortality of menhaden in the Merrimac River 101 

25. Parasites of the m,enhaden 101 

139. The crustacean parasite Cymothoa prcegustator 101 



VI TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

Page. 
Section H.— The ENEfflES and fatalities of the menhaden— Continued. 

25. Parasites of the menhaden — Continued. 

140. iDfcrences to bo drawn from the presence of these parasites 103 

141. Other parasites ■ 104 

26. JPredaceotis foes of the menhaden 104 

142. The destructiveness of whales and dolphins 104 

143. The destructiveness of sharks 105 

144. The destructiveness of other fishes 105 

145. Eavages of the bluefish and the bonito 106 

140. The menhaden driven upon the shores 107 

147. Captain Spicdel's account of the ravages of the bluefish 108 

148. Professor Baird's estimate of the destructiveness of the bluefish 108 

149. An estimate of the number of menhaden annually consumed by predaceous fish 109 

150. The place of the menhaden in nature 109 

27. Man and the fisheries 110 

151. Former allusions to the influence of the fisheries 110 

152. Probability of future decrease 110 

153. The alleged destructiveness of fishing 110 

154. Comments upon these allegations Ill 

155. Professor Hind's unwarranted statements 112 

15G. The agitation in Maine concerning productive legislation 112 

Section I.— The meniiapen fisheries 113 

28. Ths location of the fishing grounds 113 

157. Distribution of the fishing grounds 113 

29. Methods of capture • 113 

153. Past and present methods contrasted •. 113 

159. Diificnlty experienced in obtaining statistics 114 

160. risheries in Maine 114 

101. Fisheries in Massachusetts 115 

162. Fisheries in Ehodo Island 115 

103. Fisheries in Connecticut 116 

164. Fisheries in New York 116 

165. Fisheries in New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland 116 

166. Fisheries in Virginia and North Carolina 117 

167. Fisheries in the South '. 117 

30. Apparatus of capture 117 

168. The purse-seines 117 

169. The seine-boats 120 

170. The sailing-vessels. (See also Appendix I) 122 

171. Thestcamers 123 

31. Certain requirements of purse -seine fishing 123 

172. Peculiarities of purse-seine fishing 123 

173. The best time of day for using the purse-seine 124 

32. Descriptions of fishing scenes 124 

174. Fishing in Southern New England 124 

175. Fishing on the coast of Massachusetts 125 

176. Fishing ou the coast of Maine 126 

177. Gill-net fishing on the coast cf Maine 128 

178. Weir fishing for men haden 129 

179. Colonel Lyman's description of weir fishing for menhaden 129 

160. Fishing for fat-backs in North Carolina 131 

33. The fisherman and the relation of the fisheries to the population of the neighboring shores 131 

181. The fishermen of Maine 131 

182. The menhaden fishery and land industries 132 

34. Protective fishery laws , 132 

183. Laws regulating the menhaden fishery of Maine 132 

184. Laws regulating the menhaden fishery of Massachusetts 133 

Super-Section.-ECONOMICAL VALUE AND APPLICATIONS OF THE MENHADEN.. 135 

Section K.— The menhaden as a source of food 135 

35. The menhaden as a table fish. 

185. Menhaden used fresh 135 

186. Menhaden s.ilted. (See also Appendix G) 136 

187. Tho demand for salt fish in seasons of scarcity of mackerel supplied by menhaden.. 136 

188. The question of allowance of drawback on ealt .' 136 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. VII 

Page. 
Section K. — The menhaden as a source of food— Continued. 

36. Food-preparations derived from the menhaden 137 

189. Menhaden preserved in oil, "American sardines"... 137 

190. Tlie qualities of "American sardines" 133 

191. Menhaden preserved in spices 138 

192. Mr. Goodale's "Extract of Fish "—Methods of preparation and uses 139 

193. Possible yield of "Extract of Fish" 140 

37. The menhaden as a food for animals 140 

194. Menhaden scrap as a food for cattle and poultry..... 140 

Section L.— The menhaden as a bait-fish 141 

3S. The use of menhaden for bait 141 

195. Menhaden as a bait for cod 141 

196. Comparative value of menhaden and other bait 142 

197. Menhaden as a bait formaekerel 142 

198. Comparative value of herring and menhaden for toll-bait 143 

199. The testimony of Canadian officers as to the value of menhaden bait 146 

800. Testimony before the Halifax Commission regarding the greater value of menhaden 

bait 147 

201. "Slivering" menhaden 147 

202. The preparation of menhaden bait 147 

203. The use of menhaden bait in coast fisheries 148 

204. The extent of the bait-fisheries in Southern New England 148 

205. Bait-fishing in the Merrimac Kiver and in Salem Harbor 148 

206. Estimate of the annual consumption of menhaden bait 149 

207. TJseof menhaden bait by the Georges Bank fleet 150 

208. TTse of menhaden bait by the Grand Banks fleet 150 

209. TIse of menhaden bait by the mackerel line fishermen 150 

210. TJseof menhaden bait by the Connecticut smacks 151 

211. Use of menhaden bait by the New York halibut fleet 151 

212. Annual sale of bait by the vessels of the Maine manufacturers 151 

213. The Connecticut metliod of icing bait 152*.^ 

214. The Cape Ann method of icing bait 152 

215. Comparative value of different methods of icing bait 153' 

39. Conflicts between bait-fishermen and manufacturers of oil 155 

216. Earlyfeuds 155 

217. Present aspects of the conflict in Maine 156 

40. Menhaden bait as an article of commerce, and the discussion of its value before the Halifax 

Commission of 1877 156 

218. The export of menhaden bait to Canada and Newfoundland as discussed before the 

Halifax Commission 156 

219. Claimsof Her Majesty's government u 157 

220. Reply of the agent of the United States 158 

221. Reply in behalf of Her Britannic Majesty's government 159' 

222. Other references to the menhaden in the testimony and afiidavits 160 

223. The argument of Mr. Dana 161 

224. Comments 161 

Section M. The manufacture of oil and guano 161 

41. A history of the manvfactiire of menhaden oil 161 

225. The claims of Maine to the first discovery of menhaden oil 161 

226. The claims of Connecticut and New York 163 

227. The inception of the oil business in Maine 164 

228. The dates of erection of factories in Maine 164 

42. The location of the oil-factories. (See also Appendix H) 165 

229. Factories in Maine 165 

230. Factories in Massachusetts 165 

231. Factories in Rhode Island 166 

232. Factories in Connecticut : 166 

233. Factories in New York 167 

234. Factories in New Jersey 168 

235. Factories in Chesapeake Bay 168 

236. Factories on the Southern coast 169' 

43. Methods of manufacture 169 

237. The principles involved in the manufacture of oil 169 

238. A description of processes employed in manufacture 170 

239. A description of the processes employed in refining 170' 

840. The factory of George W. Miles & Co „ , 171 



VIII TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

Page. 

Section M.— The manufactuee op oil and guano— Continned. 

43. Methods of manufacture — Continned. 

241. Tho factory of Jndaon, Tair & Co 171 

242. The factory of Joseph Church &, Co 172 

243. The factory of Kenniston, Cobb & Co 172 

244. The factory at Napeague, N. T 173 

245. Tho model of the factory of Joseph Church & Co 174 

246. The coat of an oil-factory 174 

247. Organization of the fishing gangs 176 

248. The advantages claimed for floating factories 176 

249. Mr. Goodale's improved method for extracting the oil 177 

250. Proposed chemical method 178 

251. Proposed mechanical methods 178 

44. Value of fish to manufacturers 178 

252. Prices paid for fresh menhaden in different seasons 178 

253. Prices pEoportionato to amount of oil to be obtained from the fish 180 

254. Oil-yield of northern fish 180 

255. Oil-yield of southern fish 183 

256. Comparative oil -yield in different localities , 183 

45. Stitistics of the manufacture of oil and guano , 184 

257. Eeturns for the State of Maine , 184 

258. Eeturns for the United States 187 

259. Comparative yield of oil from the menhaden and whale fisheries 190 

260. Comparative yield of nitrogen from the menhaden-factories and from the imports of 

bird-guano 191 

261. Tho associations of oil and guano manufiictarers. (See also Appendices L and M).. 191 

46. The uses of menhaden oil and theoilmarket 191 

262. The uses of menhaden oil . 191 

263. The markets for menhaden oil 192 

264. The grades of oil 192 

265. The prices of oil. (See also Appendix K) 192 

266. Eeviews of the market for individual years 193 

Section K.— Menhaden and qtiieu fish, and their products, as related to agbicultuee. — 

By W. O. Atwater. (See also Appendix O) 194 

267. Introductory note. 194 

47. Menhaden in a fresh state used as a fertilizer 195 

268. Use among Indians and early colonists 195 

269. Use at beginning of present century and later 196 

270. Use at present day 200 

48. Fish scrap as manure 200 

271. The inception of its use. Exiierience in Maine 200 

272. Experience in Connecticut. Mr. Clift 201 

273. Experience of Mr. Hall and Mr. Loveland 203 

274. Statements of Professor Cook of New Jersey ...,, ' 205 

275. Further experience in Maine. Messrs. Hinckley, Kenniston, Smith, and Captain 

Collins «205 

276. Other testimony 208 

49. The manufacture of fish manures ....,.-»..^. 208 

277. Early attempts at manufacture in Connecticut 208 

278. Tho De Melon process in Europe and in America 208 

279. Early manufacture in Rhode Island 209 

280. Manufacture in Canada 210 

281. Manufacture of cancerine in New Jersey 210 

282. Early manufacture in Maine 210 

283. Early manufacture in France 212 

284. Early manufacture in England 213 

285. Other European manufactures of fish manures 213 

286. Tho Norwegian fish-guano 214 

287. Manufacture of glue and removal of oil in preparation of fish guanos 217 

288. Success of fish-guano as a fertilizer in Europe 218 

289. The manufacture of fish fertilizers in tho United States 218 

290. Kinds of fertilizers made from fish refuse 219 

291. I'ish-guano; methods of manufacture and needs of improvement; statements of 

Professor Goessmann 223 

S92. Statement of Mr. Maddocks; manufacture in Maine 224 



TABLE OP CONTENTS. IX 

Page. 
Section N.— Menhaden and other fish, and their products, as related to agriculture — 
Continued. 
, 49. 2yie mami/acture of fish manures — Continued. 

293. Goodalo's new process 224 

294. Adamson's process 225 

295. Immense waste of fish at present. Possibilities of future manufacture 226 

296. "Acidulated fish" and "Fish and potash salts" 226 

297. Manufacture of ammoniated superphosphates 227 

50. Chemical composition of menhaden and other fish and of fish manures 228 

298. Analyses of whole menhaden end of flesh and bones of whale 228 

299. Analyses of fish fertilizers 229 

300. "Waste from faulty m anufacture and use of fish fertilizers 230 

51. The use of fish fertilizers in agriculture 230 

301. Chemistry of plant nutrition 230 

302. Essential ingredients of plant food 231 

303. Exhaustion of soils by crops 231 

304. Ingredients commonly lacking in worn-out soils, and hence most important in ferti- 

lizers 233 

305. Principles to be observed in the manufacture and in the purchase of fertilizers 233 

306. Composition, character, and uses of fertilizers in general 233 

307. Explanation of chemical terms used in fertilizer analyses 234 

308. Valuations of commercial fertilizers. (See also Appendix 0) 235 

309. Kelative values of different fertilizers. Fish and Peruvian gnano 244 

310. "Ways of improving fleh manure ; fermentation 247 

311. Composting 247 

312. Feeding to stock 248 

313. Danger in using fish fertilizers alone 249 

52. Fish as food for domestic animals 250 

314. Laws of animal nutrition as shown by experiments. European researches 250 

315. General principles of feeding, maintenance, and production 251 

316. Digestion of foods by animals as tested by European experiments 254 

317. "What is essential to economy in feeding. Proportions of albuminoids and carbo- 

hydrates 255 

318. Composition and valuations of various food materials. German tables 256 

319. Early experience in use of fish as food for stock. Feeding cattle on fish in Massa- 

chusetts 258 

320. Experience of Mr. Lawes in England on flsh as food for swice 258 

321. Other European experience 259 

322. Success of Maine farmers in feeding sheep on fish 259 

323. Experiment of Professor Farrington on fish scrap vs. corn-meal for sheep 260 

324. European experiments on digestion and nutritive value of fish 263 

325. General conclusions 264 

53. Recapitulation 265 

326. Fish as manure 265 

327. Fish as food for stock 266 

328. The loss to our agriculture from waste of flsh. The evil 266 

, 329. Theremedy 266 

Appendix A.— Circular relating to statistics of the menhaden fishery 268 

Appendix B. — List of correspondents from whom contributions have been received 271 

Appendix C. — Bibliogr.iphy of literature relating to the menhaden 274 

Appendix D. — Extracts from writings of ichthyologists relating to the menhaden 279 

A drawing and description of the Clupea tyrannus and Oniscus prcegustator. By B. H. 

Latrobe. < Tr.ansactions of American Philosophical Society, VoL "V, 1802, pp. 78-80 279 

From Mitchill's "Fishes of New York." < Transactions of Literary and Philosophical 

Society of New York, 1815, p. 453 282 

From Storer's " History of the Fishes of Massachusetts," 1867, p. 168 283 

From Dekay's "Zoology of New York, Fishes," 1842, p. 259 284 

From Cuvior and Valencienne's " Histoire Naturelle des Poissons," XX, p. 424 286 

From Uhler and Lugger's "List of the Fishes of Maryland," 1876, p. 133 '. 287 

From Perley's " Keport on the Sea and Kiver Fisheries of New Brunswick," 1852, p. 208. . 287 

From Gray's Catalogue of Fish, by Gronow, 1854, p. 140 287 

From Giinther's "Catalogue of Fishes in the British Museum," "Vll.p. 436 288 

Appendix E.— Catalogue of specimens in the "United States Nation.al Museum illustrating the 

history of the menhaden 289 



X TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

Page. 
Appendix F.— Tables of ocean temperaturea for certain points on the east coast of the TTnited 

States 291 

Table I.— Tahle of surface temperatures, March, iy76, to February, 1877 291 

Table II.— Table of bottom temperatures, March, 1876, to February, 1877 a92 

Table III.— Table of mean temperatures of surface aud bottom, March, 1876, to February, 

1877 293 

Table IV.— Table of mean temperatures of surface and bottom, March, 1877, to February 28, 

1878 294 

Appendix G.— Table showing comparative amounts of menhaden, mackerel, shad, and alewives 

inspected in the State of Massachusetts, 1804 to 1877 295 

Appendix H.— List of manufacturers of menhaden oil and guano, (Compiled by Mr. Jasper 

Fryer) 296 

Appendix I.— Partial list of vessels employed in the menhaden fishery 297 

Steamers , 297 

Sailing-vessels 298 

Appendix K. — Prices-cunent of menhaden oil and review of the markets. [From the "Oil, 

Paint, and Drug Reporter"] 299 

Prices-cnrrent for the years 1871, 1872, 1873, 1874, 1875, 1876, 1877 299 

Weekly review of the "market for the years 1871, 1872, 1873, 1874, 1875, 1876, 1877 304 

Appendix L.— Proceedings of the United States Menhaden Oil and Guano Association 358 

First annual meeting, 1874 358 

Second annual meeting, 1875 - 359 

Third annual meeting, 1876 360 

Fourth annual meeting, 1877 363 

Fifth annual meeting, 1878 365 

Appendix M. — Annual reports of menhaden oil and guano manufacturers in the State of Maine. 368 

First annual report, 1873 368 

Second annual report, 1874 369 

Third annual report, 1875 370 

Fourth annual report, 1876 371 

Fifth annual report, 1877 372 

Appendix N. — Statements of correspondents 373 

1. Statement of ^Y. H. Sargent, Castine, Me., January 26 and December 28, 1874 373 

2. Statement of J. C. Condon, Belfast, Me., communicated by Marshall Davis, deputy 

collector, Belfast, Me 375 

3. Statement of R. A. Friend, Brooklin, Me 377 

4. Statement of John Grant, Matinicus light-station, Matiuicns Rock, Me., March 31, 

1874 ----■ 378 

5. Statement of Benjamin F. Brightman, Waldoborough, Me., March 18, 1874 379 

6. Statement of L. Maddocks, Booth Bay, Me., December 25, 1877 382 

7. Statement of G. B. Kenniston, Booth Bay, Me., February 14, 1874 382 

8. Statement of Judson Tarr &. Co., Rockport, Mass., and Booth Bay, Me., January 2.3, 

1874 385 

9. Statement of Mrs. B. Humphrey, keeper of Monhegan Island light, Monhegan Island, 

Me., February 4,1874 387 

10. Statement of J. Washburn, jr., Portland, Me., February, 1874 388 

11. Statement of Chandler Martin, keeper of Whale's Back light. Whale's Ba«k,N.H., 

February 23, If 74, and January 9, 1875 390 

12. Statement of Thomas Day, keeper of Seguin light, Parker's Head, Me 390 

13. Statement of William S. Sartell, Pemaquid light-station, Bristol, Me., February 1, 

1874 391 

14.* Statement of Alden H. Jordan, keeper of Baker's Island light, Cranberry Isles, Me., 

December 29, 1873, and February 9, 1874 391 

15. Statement of Washington Olin, keeper of Pond Island light, near Booth Bay, Me., 

February 18, 1874 393 

16. Statement of an unknown correspondent, Gloucester, Mass., March 28, 1874 393 

17. Statement of Capt. F. J. Babson, collector of customs, Gloucester, Mass 395 

18. Statement of Simeon Dodge, Marblehead, Mass 399 

19. Statement of Eben B.Phillips, Swampscott, Mass., January 21, 1874 401 

20. Statement of Thomas Loring, collector, Plymouth, Mass., January 24, 1874, and March 

20,1875 403 

21. Statement of William Atwood, light-house keeper, Plymouth, Mass., February 23, 

1874 , 404 

22. Statement of Heman S.Dill, Wei fleet, Mass., January 9, 1875 405 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. XI 

Page. 
AFTENDIX N. — Statements of correspondents — Continued. 

23. Statement of David F. Loring, Highland light-station, North Truro, Mass., March 2, 

1874 407 

24. Statement of David P. Loring, Cape Cod light-station, North Truro, Mass., ^February 

23,1875 409 

25. Statement of Josiah Hardy, 2d, Chatham, Mass., February 17, 1874, and January 9, 

1875 410 

26. Statement of Alonzo Y. Lothrop, Hyannis, Mass., February 18, 1874, and January 1, 

1875 412 

27. Statement of William S.Allen, Nantucket, Mass., January, 1875 413 

28. Statement of R. C. Kenney, Nantucket, Mass., January 21, 1874 414 

29. Statement of C. B. Marchant, collector of customs, Edgartown, Mass., Jnnnary 13, 

1875 416 

30. Statement of Jason Luce & Co., North Tisbury, Mass., January 6, 1875 417 

31. Statement of Gallup, Morgan & Co., Groton, Conn., December 28, 1877 417 

32. Statement of Luce Brothers, East Lyme, December 4, 1877 418 

33. Statement of Daniel T. Church, Tiverton, R. I 418 

34. Statement of E. T. De Blois, Portsmouth, R. L, November 26, 1877 , 425 

35. Statement of H. D. Ball, New Shoreham, R. L, January 11, 1875 425 

36. Statement of Henry W. Clark, keeper of Southeast light-house. Block Island, R. L, 

February 6, 1875 425 

37. Statement of J. S. Crandall, "Watch Hill, R. I., February 20, 1874, and January 1, 

1875 427 

38. Statement of William H. Potter, Mystic River, Conn. , January 27, 1874 428 

39. Statement of John Washington, Mystic, Conn., December 30, 1874 430 

40. Statement of Leander Wilcox, Mystic Bridge, Conn., January 15, 1875 431 

41. 'Statement of Samuel C. Beebe, Cornfield Point light-vessel No. 12, Saybrook, Conn., 

January 6, 1875 432 

42. Statement of R. E. Ingham, Saybrook light-house, Saybrook, Conn., March 17, 1874.. 433 

43. Statement of J. L. Stokes, Westbrook, Conn., February 25, 1875 435 

44. Statement of F. Lillingston, Stratford, Conn 435 

45. Statement of B. Lillingston, Stratford, Conn., February 23, 1874 437 

46. Statement of George W. Miles, Milford, Conn., January 17, 1874 437 

47. Statement of W. S. Havens, Sag Harbor, N. T., January 1, 1875 441 

48. Statement of J. Norrison Raynor, agent of Sterling Company, Greenport, December 

20, 1877 443 

49. Statement of Hawkins Brothers, Jamesport, N. T., February 25, 1875 443 

50. Statement of Benjamin H. Sisson, Greenport, R. I., January 29, 1874 445 

51. Statement of David G. "Vail, River Head, Long Island, March 20, 1875 447 

52. Statement of Joseph Whaley, Point Judith light. Point Judith, R. I., December 28, 

1874 449 

53. Statement of A. G. Wolf, Absecom light, Atlantic City, N. J., March 6, 1874 450 

54. Statement of Albert Morris, Somers Point, N. J., January 12, 1875 451 

55. Statement of D. E. Foster, Cape May light-house, N. J., February 15, 1875 453 

56. Statement of A. A. Owens, Philadelphia, Pa., March 31, 1875 453 

57. Statement of James H. Bell, Mispillion River, Delaware Bay, January 23, 1875 454 

58. Statement of Benjamin Tice, Maurice River light, January 11, 1875 457 

59. Statement of Joseph B. Benson, Bombay Hook, Del., January 18, 1875 457 

60. Statement of Hance Lawson, Crisfield, Md., January 22, 1874 458 

61. Statement of Isaac D. Robbius, Hog Island, February 21, 1874 460 

(52. Statement of J. L. Anderton, Apateague Island, Va., January 12, 1875 460 

63. Statement of G. Henry Seldon, Kinsalo, Westmoreland County, Va., August, 1874 ... 461 

64. Statement of Henry Richardson, Cape Henry, February 9, 1874 .' 464 

65. Statement of C. G. Manning, Edenton, N. C, January 6, 1875 465 

66. Statement of A. W. Simpson, jr.. Cape Hatteras, N. C, Aprill5, 1874 465 

67. Statement of A. W. Simpson, jr., Cape Hatteras, N. C, January 20, 1875 470 

03. Statement of A. W. Simpson, jr.. Capo Hatteras, N. C, January 25, 1875 471 

69. Statement of Wallace R. Jennett, Capo Hatteras, N. C, February 26, 1874 474 

70. Statement of A. C. Davis, Beaufort, N. C, February 14, 1874, and January 27, 1875 .. 475 

71. Statement of W. T. Hatsel, Body's Island, N. C, March 4, 1874, and February 23, 1875. 477 

72. Statementof W. A. Harn, Morris Island, S. C, January 21, 1875 478 

73. Statement of Patrick Conner, Daufuskie Island light, S. C, March 15, 1875 478 

74. Statement of George Gage, Beaufort, S. C, January 20, 1874 479 

75. Statement of Joseph Shepard, Saint Mary's, Ga., March 30, 1874, and January 28, 1875. 479 

76. Statement of J. F. Hall, Brunswick, Ga., Aprilll,1876 481 



XII TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

Page. 
Appendix N.— Statements of correspondents — Continned. 

77. Statement of Capt. David Kemps, Yellow Blnffs, Fla., February 10,1875 481 

78. Statement of Charles Koch, Jacksonville, Fla., January 15, 1874 482 

79. Statement of D. P. Kane, Matagorda, Texas, March 1, 1874 483 

Appendix 0.— Miscellaneous items regarding the use of fish for manure 483 

1. The earliest printed account of the use of menhaden for a fertilizer, being an extract 

from an article by Ezra I'Hommedieu, 1801 483 

2. Letter from C. A. Goessman on the agricultural value of menhaden fertilizers 485 

3. A description of the factory of the Pacific Guano Company at "Wood's HoU, Mass 467 

4. The Cumberland Bone Company's vrorks 491 

5. The Quiunipiac Fertilizer Company's works 492 

6. The Crowell Manufacturing Company 493 

7. Method of calculating costs of valuable ingredients of fertilizers. By W. 0. Atwater. 495 

8. Improved methods of drying fish-scrap 502 

Appendix P. — Exports of menhaden oil, from the port of New Tork, from January, 1875, to July, 

1878 503 

Appendix Q. — Supplementary works, September 22, 1878 506 

1. An early allusion to the ' ' fat-back " on the Southern coast •- . 506 

2. Departure of the schools in the fall 506 

3. The spawning grounds of the menhaden 507 

4. Menhaden fishing on a Long Island steamer. By Ernest IngersoU 508 

5. The manufacture of sardines from menhaden 512 

6. Small oil-trying in Maine, 1860 513 

7. The use of fish for manure by the early colonists of Massachusetts 514 

8. A fish fertilizer company in Boston, 1860 514 

Explanation of plates 515 

Alphabetical index 519 



l.-THE NATURAL AND ECONOMICAL HISTORY OF THE AMER- 
ICAN MENHADEN. 



By G. Brown Goodk. 



A— INTRODUCTION. 
1. — Object of the memoir. 
Previous memoirs in tJiis series. 

1. In the first report of the Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries,* 
was commenced the publication of a series of memoirs upon the im- 
portant fishes of the United States. Professor Baird inaugurated the 
work with two treatises from his own pen with the following titles : 

I. The Scup. Stenotomus argyrojjs, (Linn.) Gill.t 

II. The Bluefish. Pomatomus saltatrix, (Linn.) Gill.J 

The present memoir is the third of this series. The work of prepar- 
ing it was assigned to me in September, 1874. I have tried to make it 
exhaustive, including everything known about the subject, and statistics 
up to January 1, 1878. There are still, however, many questions which 
need further study, for the subject is not at all well understood. I send 
the manuscript to the i^rinter with reluctance, hoping at some time to 
resume the study of the many unsolved problems. 

7Vie commercial importance of the menhaden. 

2. The menhaden has grown greatly in favor within a comparatively 
short time. Twenty-five years ago, and before, it was thought to be of 
very small value. A few millions were taken every year in Massachu- 
setts Bay, Long Island Sound, and the bays of New Jersey. A smalt 
portion of these were used for bait; a few barrels were occasionally 
salted in Massachusetts to be exported to the West Indies. Large 
quantities were plowed into the soil of the farms along the shores, stimu- 
lating the crops for a time, but in the end filling the soil with oil, parch- 
ing it, and making it unfit for tillage. Since that time manifold uses 
have been discovered. As a bait-fish, this is found to excel all others. 
For many years much the greater share of all our mackerel have been 
caught by its aid, while our cod and halibut fleet use it, rather than 

* United States Commission of Fisli and Fisheries. | | Part 1. | | Keport | 

on the I Condition of the Sea Fisheries | of the | South Coast of New England | in | 

1871 and 1872. | By | Spencer F. Baird, | Commissioner. | | With suiiplementary 

papers. | | Washington: | Government Printing Office. | 1873. 8vo., pp. xlvii, 852, 

40 plateH, 2 maps. 

tOp. cit., pp. 228-235. I Op. cit., pp. 235-252. 

1 F 



2 



REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



any other fish, when it can be procured. The Dominion mackerel fleet 
buy it in quantity, and its value has been thought an important element 
in framing treaties between our government and that of Great Britain. 
As a food resource it is found to have great possibilities. Many hun- 
dreds of barrels are sold, salted, in the West Indies, while thousands 
of barrels are salted down every year for domestic use by families 
living near the shore. In many sections the fresh fish are sold in the 
market. Within five years has sprung up an important new industry, 
which consists in packing these fish in oil, after the manner of sardines, 
for home and foreign consumption. The discovery made by Mr. Good- 
ale, that from these fish may be extracted, for the cost of carefully boil- 
ing them, a substance possessing all the properties of Liebig's " extract 
of beef," opens up a vast field for future development. As a food for 
domestic animals, in the shape of " fish meal," there seems also to be a 
broad opening. As a source of oil the menhaden is more important than 
any other marine animal : its annual yield usually exceeds that of 
the whale (from American fisheries) by about 200,000 gallons, in 1874 
not falling far short of the aggregate of all the whale, seal, and cod 
oil made in America. The refuse of the oil-factories supplies a material 
of much value for manures : as a base for nitrogen it enters largely into 
the composition of most of the manufactured fertilizers. The amount 
of " ammonia " derived from this source in 1875 was estimated to be 
equivalent to that contained in 60,000,000 pounds of guano from Peru, 
the gold value of which would not be far from $1,920,000. In 1876 the 
yield of the menhaden fishery was more than twice that of any other 
carried on by the fishermen of the United States. In the value of its 
products it was surpassed only by the cod and mackerel fisheries.* 
lm]^erfect information regarding the species. 
3. At the time of beginning the investigation, the results of which 
are partially detailed in this memoir, comparatively little was known 
about the menhaden. The species had been described or referred 
to in most of the books on the ichthyology of North America, and in 

* The following table of estimates shows ia a general way the relative values of the 
ijsheries iu 1876 : 



Fislieries. 



Yield in 
pounds. 



Value. 



Monliaden fishery 

Cod fishery 

Mackerel fishery 

Fisherits of the great lakes (1872) . 
Salmon fishery of Columbia tliver . 

nalibut. fishery 

Shad fishery (estimate) 

Scux) fishery 

Bhiefish fishery 

Swordfish fishery 

Bonito fishery 

Squeteague fishery 

Flounders fishery 



Herrinir fishery (partly in British waters) 

AVliale fishery 

Oyster fishery 



462, 000, PCO 

2lo, 000, 000 

49, 000, 000 

32, 250, 000 

30, 000, 0110 

22, 000, COO 

20, 000, 000 

7, 700, 000 

7, 068, 000 

1, 000, 000 

2, 200, 000 
1,800,000 
1, 827, 000 

27, 933, 500 



657, 790 
825, 540 
375, 262 

r,oo, 000 

500, 000 
5!fl, 240 
Ol.O, 000 
504,400 
424, 000 
165, 000 
143, 000 
138, 200 
109, C20 



507, 977 

2, 850, 000 

25, 000, 000 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 8 

some of the geueral icbtliyological treatises. Mitcbill, Storer, and Dekay 
had given imperfect figures. Allusions were made to its economical 
value by some of the books mentioned, and in agricultural and statis- 
tical works occasional reference bad been made to its importance as a 
manure. Up to the present day tbe reports of tbe Commissioner of 
Agriculture have barely referred to tbe existence of this source of fer- 
tilizing material. Many persons engaged in fisbiug or manufacturing 
bad a comprehensive knowledge of some parts of its bistory, but tbese 
bad never been written or printed. There was no adequate account of 
this fish accessible to tbe student. Eecognizing the necessity of supply- 
ing this need, the Commissioner of Fisheries chose this species as the 
next to be studied. 

2, — Mea'ns used to gather information. 

4. A circular was issued, December 20, 1873, requesting information 
upon many points in the history of the menhaden, and propounding 
fifty-eight questions for tbe guidance of those disposed to aid in the 
investigation.* This was distributed to manufacturers, fishermen, and 
all known to be interested in the fisheries. Through tbe courtesy of the 
Secretary of the Treasury and the Chairman of tbe Light-House Board 
it was also sent to all collectors of customs and light-bouse keepers on the 
Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico. A second edition of this circular was 
issued in 1874. 

5. Personal letters have been addressed to nearly all the intelligent 
respondents to the circular, and to many others, asking information 
upon uncertain points. 

C. The attention of the marine branch of tbe Fish Commission has 
for four seasons been especially directed to the menhaden, especiall}' with 
a view to learning about its food and its habits of spawning. 

3. — Sources op information. 

7. At the beginning of this work Professor Baird gave me five or six 
pages of closely- written manuscript containing his own observations 
made during five or six summers on the coast of New England. These 
have been of the greatest importance, and my own work has been little 
more than that of expanding and carrying out the suggestions there 
made. I have also made use of notes made by Professors Smith and 
Yerrill, and by Mr. Vinal N. Edwards, and the testimony taken by Pro- 
fessor Baird, in 1872. 

Personal observations and aid of individuals. 

8. While with the Commission at Eastport, Me., in 1872; Portland, Me., 
ih 1873; at Noank, Conn., in 1874; at Wood's Holl, Mass., in 1875; and 
at Salem, Mass., and Halifax, ISTova Scotia, in 1877, 1 used every oppor- 

, tunity to study this fish. I have also bad opportunities of observing it 
at the mouth of the Saint John's Eiver, Florida; in the Potomac, at sev- 
* This circular is reproduced ia Ai^pendix A. 



4 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

eral of the fisheries; at Greenport, N. T., aud Provincetown, Mass. In 
October, 1877, 1 visited Mr. H. L. Dudley, at his works on Pine Island, 
Connecticut, and there had an excellent opportunity of observing the 
operations of an oil and guano factory. A similar opportunity was 
aflorded me by the officers of the Pacific Guano Company at Wood's Holl. 
Here I was enabled, by the aid of Mr. Herbert Gill, stenographer, to 
obtain very full statistics. 

In addition to the circulars, over two hundred personal letters have 
been written. In almost every case full and satisfactory replies were 
received. The following gentlemen have been particularly obliging: — 

Mr. H. L. Dudley, Secretary of United States Menhaden Oil and 
Guano Association, New Haven, Conn.; Mr. D. T. Church, Tiverton, R. 
I.; Prof. C. A. Goessman, Massachusetts Agricultural College, Amherst, 
Mass.; Mr. E. H. Jenkins, Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, 
New Haven, Conn.; Hon. S. L. Goodale, Saco, Me.; Mr. E. G. Blackford, 
New York City ; Mr. Barnet Phillips, New York City ; Mr. W. O. Alli- 
son and Mr. Jasper Pryer, New York City. 

I am also under obligation to Prof. W. O. Atwater, of Wesleyan Uni- 
versity, who has written the portion relating to agriculture; to Mr. H, 
L. Dudley, for advice aud criticism ; and to Mr. Herbert A. Gill of the 
Smithsonian Institution, Mr. William Jameson, and Mr. Walter P. 
Stoddard, of Wesleyan University, for aid in preparing the manuscripts 
for the press. My associate, Dr. T. H. Bean, has worked with me in 
studying the specific characters of the two species of Brevoortia. The 
drawings are by Mr. J. H. Emerton, of Salem, and Mr. H. L. Todd, of 
Washington. Electrotypes have been obtained from the "American 
Agriculturist," from George W. Miles & Co., the American Sardine Com- 
pany, and the Pacific Guano Company. 

Responses to the circular of inquiry. 

9. The circular of inquiry elicited responses from the correspondents 
named below, in Appendix B, most of which were carefully prepared, and 
in many cases give the results of years of observation. In Appendix 
N will be found these responses in full. 

Published accounts of the species. 

10. In discussing the history of the name and classification of the 
Brevoortia tyrannus and its allies, allusion is made to various books, 
and so incidentally under other heads. In Appendix C will be found a 
complete bibliography of the subject, containing about one hundred 
and forty citatious. Many of these authorities have been quoted in the 
text. Some of the most important descriptions have been reproduced 
in Appendix D. 

Most of the work on this report was done in the winter of 1874-'75. 
Since that time two pamphlets have been published, containing very 
valuable contributions to the knowledge of the menhaden. From these 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 5 

I have derived much iuformation and have quoted freely. The first 
was the report of Messrs. Boardman and Atkins.* The most recent 
contribution is that prepared by Mr. Luther Maddocks, under the au- 
spices of the Maine association.! This is a most interesting little essay, 
especially valuable for the complete statistics of fisheries and manufac- 
tures in Maine, and the account of the relations of the fisheries to the 
fishermen, the shore population, and the property of the adjoining towns. 

The collections of tlie United States National Museum, 

11. The collections of the Eish Commission, deposited in the National 
Museum, contain over one hundred bottles of menhaden in alcohol, 
including probably over one thousand specimens, from many localities, 
with photographs and casts. A list of these is given in Appendix E. 

There is also a model of the menhaden fishing steamer " Leonard 
Brightman" with seine-boats (No. 25824, Ethn. Cat.), made by Joseph 
Lawler, of Bristol, Me. ; models of the Cape Ann seine-boat (No. 25800), 
with fittings, and the Cape Ann seining-dory (No. 25827), from Higgins 
and Gififord, of Gloucester; a full series of " fittings " for seine-boats, 
manufactured by Wilcox and Crittenden, of Middletown, Conn., includ- 
ing "cleats" (No. 25177), "steering rowlocks with stern-dockets" (Nos. 
2oll3-'14), " oar-holders " of old and new models (Nos. 25171-'72), " davit- 
iron "(No. 25106), "tow-iron" (No. 25167), and "tow link and hook" 
(No. 25168) ; a pump box and haft for seine-boat (No. 29199) from 
Andrew Kennedy, of Provincetown. The Pacific Guano Company is 
represented by a large model of their works, the same which was ex- 
hibited in their jjavilion at the Exposition grounds in Philadelphia, and 
there is a very satisfactory model of the oil factory of Joseph Church 
& Co., at Bristol, Me. (No. 26899), made by Joseph Lawler. 

4. — Sources of error which have been shunned. 
The difficulty of obtaining exact information. 

12. It has been necessary to make allowances for many inaccuracies 
of statement on the part of our correspondents. Some of them, having 

*The I Menhaden and Herring Fisheries | of Maine | as sources of fertilization. | 
A Report made to the Maine Board of Agriculture | By Samuel L. Boardman, Secretary 
of the Board | and j Charles G. Atkins, formerly Fish Commissioner of Maine, | 8vo. 
1875, pp. 67. 

Under direction of the Maine Board of Agriculture, Mr. Samuel L. Boardman, its 
secretary, visited in 1874 and 1875 nearly all the manufacturing establishments in 
Maine, thoroughly investigating their operations. The account of the agricultural 
uses of fish is the most complete -which has yet been published (pp. 34-07). Mr. Charles 
G. Atkins, formerly commissioner of iisheries for the State of Maine, and for several 
years in charge of the salmon-hatching establishment at Bucksport, contributed a very 
thorough study of the habits of the fish (pp. 1-33). 

tTho Menhaden fishery of Maine | -with statistical and historical details | its | rela- 
tions to Agriculture | and as a | direct source of human food | | New pu'ocesses, 

products, and discoveries | j Published by the | Association of the Menhaden Oil 

and G» a,no Manufacturers of Maine | Press of B. Thurston & Company, Portland, 
1878. 8vo. p. 46, 4 cuts. 



6 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

been unable to obtain exact information, have ventured to guess at 
what they did not really know from experience. I do not think that 
there has been intentional misrepresentation or any effort to withhold 
information. There being no ulterior object, such as future legislation, 
in collecting this information, there has been no temptation to con- 
cealment ; still the testimony has been partly that of interested persons. 
The most fair and honorable men, however careful may be their obser- 
vations, are involuntarily influenced by preconceived opinions or by 
considerations of personal interest, and, even if it were possible to secure 
unprejudiced opinions, these necessarily would express only part of the 
truth. Then, too, the movements of fishes are so capricious, the oppor- 
tunities of observation so few and so imijerfect, that satisfactory results 
can, in most cases, be reached only after years of constant study. 

Prejudices and superstitions. 

13. Some curious prejudices and fancies have been encountered among 
the fishermen. These refer chiefly to the time and manner of spawning, 
the character of the eggs, the nature of their food, and the relation of 
the fish to its peculiar parasite. 

Inaccuracies of observation and statement. 

< 

14. There has been some difficulty in eliminating unreliable data from 
the great mass of facts contributed by correspondents. This, however, 
has not been so great as was apprehended at the beginning of the work, 
since a knowledge of the beliefs and traditions current among sea- 
faring men renders it easy to detect many of the errors at once. The 
concurrent testimony of a number of reliable correspondents has been 
thought sufficient to establish points in question : when possible, these 
have been investigated personally, to render their establishment doubly 
certain. A large proportion of the communications received have evi- 
dently been prepared with much care. It is believed that many facts 
hitherto unrecorded have been brought to light by this investigation. 
All communications are given in full in Appendix N. This has been 
done both to show the character of the testimony upon which this his- 
tory has been founded, and to put upon record many facts which, while 
not directly connected with the subject under consideration, are never- 
theless of value to the student of the fisheries. 

B.— THE NAMES OF THE MENHADEN. 
5. — ^Popular names. 
Local naynes and usages. 

15. Brevoortia tyrannus has at least thirty distinct popular names, most 
of them limited in application within narrow geographical boundaries. 
To this circumstance may be attributed the i)revailing ignorance regard- 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 7 

ing its habits aud migratious, which has perhaps prevented the more ex- 
tensive utilization of this fish , particularly in the Southern States. It ac- 
counts for the extraordinary blunder of the compilers of the fishery sta- 
tistics of the census of the United States for 1870, in which the oils pro- 
duced from the whitefish of the great lakes {Coregonus albus) and the 
whitefish of Connecticut are classed as identical, a blunder which is 
followed by a number of others of the same character and quite as 
certain to mislead. The discrepancy of local names also enables us to 
understand how the extensive manufacturing interests aud fisheries 
connected with this fish have gradually sprung up, little noticed save ■ 
by those directly interested in the business. 

The geographical distribution of the popular names. 

16. In Maine and Massachusetts the name " pogy " is almost univer- 
sally in use, though in the vicinity of Cape Ann it is partially replaced 
by "hard-head" and "hard-head shad." The name "menhaden*' is exclu- 
sively applied in Southern Massachusetts, the Yineyarcl Sound, Buzzard's 
Bay, and Narragansett Bay, where it appears to have originated. From 
the eastern boundary of Connecticut to the mouth of the Connecticut 
Eiver the name "bony-fish" predominates, while in the western iiart of 
the State the species is usually known as the " white fish." In the waters 
of New York the usage of two centuries is in favor of " mossbunker," a 
name which also holds throughout New Jersey. In Delaware Bay, the 
Potomac, and Chesapeake Bay other variations are found in"alewife" 
and "greentail." Virginia gives us " bug-fish" in its various forms, while 
in North Carolina we first meet the name of "fat-back," which is more 
or less prevalent as far south as the Saint John's Eiver, Florida. In all 
the Southern States, especially in the vicinity of Beaufort, N. C, the 
names "yellow-tail" and "yellow-tailed shad " are occasionally heard. 
I am informed that in the Indian Eiver, Florida, the fish is occasionally 
called the " shiner" and the " herring." 

17. The following table gives the usage at a number of points on the 
coast chosen to exhibit most clearly the geographical distribution of 
the popular names of Brevoortia tyrannus : 

Passamaquoddy Bay, Me Pogy ; Bony-fish. 

Castine, Me Pogy ; Menhaden. 

Belfast, Me Pogy. 

Brooklin, Me Pogy. 

Cranberry Isles, Me Pogy. 

Sargentsville, Me , Pogy. 

Matinicus Eock, Me Pogy ', Porgie ; Menhaden. 

New Harbor, Me Menhaden. 

Manhegin Island, Me Pogy. 

Damariscotta, Me Pogy ; Mossbunker. 

Pemtiquid, Me Pogy j Menhaden. 



8 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

MuscoDgus, Me Pogy ; Menhaden. 

Boothbay , Me .- Pogy ; Menhaden. 

Bristol, Me Pogy ; Menhaden. 

Eoand Pond, Me Pogy. 

Waldoboio', Me Pogy. 

Pond Island, Me Pogy ; Menhaden. 

Portland, Me Pogy. 

Pine Point, Me Pogy. 

Portsmouth, N. H Pogy. 

Eockport, Mass Pogy ; Menhaden. / 

Gloucester, Mass Pogy ; Porgie ; Menhaden ; Hardhead 

Salem, Mass Pogy ; Hardhead. 

Marblehead, Mass Hardhead ; Pogy ; Menhaden. 

Swampscott, Mass Pogy ; Menhaden. 

Plymouth, Mass Pogy ; Menhaden. 

Wellfleet, Mass Pogy ; Hardhead. 

Truro, Mass '. Pogy. 

Proviucetown, Mass Pogy ; Menhaden. 

Chatham, Mass Pogy ; Menhaden. 

Hyanuis, Mass Pogy ', Menhaden. 

Nantucket, Mass Pogy ; Poggie j Menhaden. 

Edgartown, Mass Menhaden. 

North Tisbury, Mass Menhaden. 

Woods Holl, Mass Menhaden. 

New Bedford, Mass Menhaden. 

Tiverton, R. I Menhaden. 

Newport, E. I Menhaden ; Mossbunker. 

New Shoreham, R. I., (Block Isl'd)Menhaden. 

Point Judith, R. I Menhaden. 

Watch Hill, E.I Bony-fish. 

Stouington, Conn . . Bony-fish. 

Mystic, Conn Bony-fish. 

Noank, Conn Bony-fish. 

New London, Conn Bony-fish. 

Groton, Conn Bony-fish. 

Lyme, Conn Bony-fish. 

Say brook. Conn Bony-fish ; White-fish 

Westbrook, Conn White-fish. 

Guilford, Conn . White-fish. 

New Haven, Conn , . White-fish ; Menhaden. 

Milford, Conn White-fish ; Menhaden. 

Stratford, Conn White-fish ; Menhaden ; Bunker. 

Bridgeport, Conn White-fish. 

Norwalk, Conn White-fish. 

Montauk Point, N. Y Bony-fish. 

Napeague, N. Y Bony-fish, 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 9 

Jamesport, N. Y Mossbiinker ; Menhaden. 

Sag Harbor, N. Y Mossbunker. 

New York City and vicinity Mossbunker. 

Port Monmouth, N. J Mossbunker. 

Tuckerton, K J Mossbunker. 

Atlantic City, K J Mossbunker. 

Somers Point, N. J Mossbunker. 

Cape May, N. J Bony-fish. 

Bombay Hook, Del Mossbunker ; Oldwife ; Bug-fish. 

Mispilliou Eiver, Delaware Old- wife. 

Maurice River Mossbunker ; Old-wife Chebog. 

Hog Island Mossbunker ; Ell- wife. 

Tangier Sound, Maryland Alewife. 

Pocomoke Sound, Maryland Alewife. 

Marlboro', Md Alewife. 

Nanjemoy, Md Alewife. 

Point Lookout Alewife. 

Apateague Island, Va Alewife. 

Washington,.D. C Alewife ; Bug-fish. 

Potomac Eiver Alewife ; Bug-fish ; Greentail. 

York River, Va Alewife ; Bug-head. 

Rappahannock River, Virginia.. Old- wife ; Wife; Bug-head. 

Cape Henry, Virginia Alewife ; Bony-fish. 

Edenton, Is . C Bug-fish. 

Cape Hatteras Fat-back ; Menhaden. 

Beaufort, oST. C Fat-back ; Yellow-tail shad. 

Body's Island, N. C Fat-back. 

Fort Macon, N. C Fat-back. 

Charleston, S, C Menhaden ; Mossbunker. 

Saint Mary's, Ga Menhaden. 

Saint John's River, Florida IMeuhaden j Mossbunker; Fat-back. 

Discrepancies in the popular names. 

18. These names are not separated in their distribution by sharply- 
defined boundaries. Still, as a glance at the table will show, the hahitatj 
if that term may be legitimately used, of each local appellation appears 
to be clearly marked. Where there is a discrepancy it can usually be 
explained. For instance, the general use of the name " menhaden" in 
the vicinity of Boothbay, Me., is due to the presence of a large number 
of fishermen and laborers from Rhode Island who carry on the oil-fac- 
tories in that region. In the same wny the name " bony-fish " has been 
naturalized at Montauk Point and Napeague, X. Y. The factories in 
that neighborhood are owned by firms in Eastern Connecticut, and the 
Connecticut " bony-fish fleet " has a favorite cruising ground in the 
waters of Eastern Long Island. The names " menhaden " and " moss- 
bunker " have been introduced into Florida by northern fishermen, who 



10 EEPOET OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

prosecute the wiuter shad fisheries on the Saint John's, and these same 
names are more or less familiar all along the coast wherever the north- 
ern coasters and fishing vessels are known. 

Tlie name preferahle for adoption. 

19. The adoption of some one suitable name for popular use is emi- 
nently desirable. " Menhaden " is the name most generally known , as 
well as the most distinctive. It has the additional recommendation of 
having been derived from an aboriginal language. It has been used 
in the titles of the two manufacturers' associations, and it is hoped 
that this usage will soon be conformed to by all. 

Tradenames. 

20. Among the manufacturers in Port Monmouth, N. J., who prepare 
the menhaden as an article of food, a number of trade-names are in use, 
such as " American sardine "(in distinction from the European fish, which 
is prepared in a similar manner), " shadine," and " ocean trout." * 

Etymologies. 

21. A few words concerning the origin of the above-mentioned names 
may not be out of place. "Pogy" and "menhaden" are derived some- 
what remotely from the Indian dialects of New England, the latter 
apparently from that in use in Massachusetts and Ehode Island, the 
former from a more northern source. The writer is indebted to Prof. J. 
Hammond Trumbull, of Hartford, Conn., for the following very sugges- 
tive letter : 

* This fanciful name has been the occasion of many erroneous statements. In the 
New York Times for April 12, 1874, apiieared an article entitled " American Sardines," 
which contained the following bit of biography : " The fish selected as the substitute for 
the sardine of Europe is the menhaden, more commonly known as the moss-bunker, and 
the scientific name of which is Trutta Oceana, or ocean-trout, Its color is silver, spotted 
with dark brown, and in the night-time assumes a reddish or fiery tinge. They abound 
in the seas east of the Canadas and in the bays and deep rivers which indent the Now 
Brunswick, Newfoundland, and Nova Scotia coasts, and from which they migrate in 
the spring of the year to the southward, and appear in great shoals along the coast of 
Long Island and in the Raritan and Lower New York bays. A mile or two to the north- 
ward of Sandy Hook is their favorite feeding-ground for the spring and summer, and 
thither they rendezvous toward the close of April in vast schools, numbering millions. 
They invariably come on with the warm weather, and remain until fall. Their breed- 
ing time is late in the winter," &c. These ridiculous statements, evidently compiled 
in part from i^rinted accounts of the sea-trout {Salmo immaculatus, Storer)of the North, 
partly from the statements of the menhadeu fishermen, but principally from the imagi- 
nation of the writer, would perhaps not be worthy of notice had they not been copied 
by the European newspapers. A translation, with emendations which make it still 
more absurd , appeared in IJas AusJand for August 17, 1874. The Stuttgart paper emends 
its name to Trutta irutia, and states that it resembles in color the brook-trout to which 
it is very closely allied. 



HISTORY OF THE AMEEICAN MENHADEN. 11 

" Haktford, Conn., Bee. 19, 1874. 
" Mr. G. Brown Goode : 

" My Dear Sir : lu reply to yours of the 14th respecting the local 
names of the Brevoortia menliaden, about all I can give you is in my 
note to the new edition of Koger Williams' Key, ch. xix. Williams 
names, together, among spring fish, '•'■ Aiimsuog Sk\i([ MunnawhatteaugP 
Under the former name are included several species of the herring 
tribe, auni'su (plural, aumshiog) meaning ' small fish.' Munnaivliatieaug^ 
corrupted to Menhaden^ means, literally 'fertilizer' ('that which man- 
ures.^) This name was applied to the herring and alewife as well as the 
'menhaden' proper, — all these species being used by the Indians for 
manuring their cornfields. 

"In the northern and eastern parts of New England the Brevoortia 
is commonly called Pauhagen, and probably in some localities *pogha- 
den' (as you write it and which is nearer the Indian original) though I 
have not heard it so pronounced by eastern fishermen. This name in 
the eastern dialects has precisely the same meaning as ' menhaden' (or 
rather munnaiohatteaug in Southern New England). The Abuaki (i e., 
coast of Maine) name was Poolcagan as Rasles wrote it, and the verb 
from which it is derived he translated by ' on engraisse la terre.' 

'•^ MosshunJcer is classic. Dr. Bartlett in his Dictionary of American- 
isms quotes from Dow, jr.'s Sermons a remark that ' under the surface 
[of some smooth faced people] there may be found as many asperities 
as there are bones in a mosshunJcerJ' 

" Jacob Steendam mentions it in his poem ' in the Praise of New 
Netherlaud,' printed in IGGl. Dankers and Sluyter, the Journal of 
whose Voyage to New York, 1679, was translated by Mr. Murphy for 
the L. I. Historical Society's Collection, vol. i. (p. 100), saw in the 
bay schools of innumerable fish, and a sort like herring called there 
' Marshanckers.^ 

"I have never looked for the origin of this name, but have had the 
impression that it was Dutch, perhaps transferred from some European 
species. I can make nothing of it as Indian. 
"Yours truly, 

" J. HAMMOND TRUMBULL." 

22. According to Mr. J. V. C. Smith,* the older fishermen of Northern 
Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine called the fish by the Indian 
name "Pauhagen," and I myself have heard it called "poghaden" by 
old fishermen about Cape Cod. The modern name may easily have been 
derived from this by dropping the final syllable. At the present day 
this name is almost universally in use among the fishermen north of 
Cape Cod, though it is occasionally varied by "poggie" and "porgy." 
The use of the latter name should be carefully avoided : the same name, 
a corruption of tbe Indian "scupjiaug," being commonly applied to 

* Natural History of the Fishes of Massachusetts, embracing a practical essay on 
angling. By Jerome V. C. Smith, M. D., Boston. Allen and Ticknor, 1833. 



12 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OP FISH AND FISHERIES. 

another fish, the " scuppaug " or " scup" {Stenotomus argyrops.)* As may 
be supposed, the name of Narragansett origin is most exclusively used 
in Southern Massachusetts and on the shores of Narragausett Bay, the 
former home of that tribe of Indians. In its present form it first appeared 
in print in 1792, in the New York Agricultural Transactions, in an article 
by the Hon. Ezra L'Hommedieu.t 

23. "Hard-head" and "bony-fish" explain themselves, both referring 
to the same peculiarity of structure. The former name was first used 
about 1813 by Belknap in his History of New Hampshire; the latter, as 
well as "white-fish," by President Dwight in his Travels in New 
England. 

21. The application of "white-fish" is also sufficiently evident, 
although this name is not a distinctive one, being applied to a large 
group of North American fresh-water fishes, the Coregonidcv, and in 
certain localities to the bluefish {Poniatomus saltatrix). In England the 
term "white-fish" is used to designate cod, haddock, hake, ling, pollock, 
soles, turbot, plaice, halibut, and whiting 

25. "Mossbuuker" is a relic of the days of the Dutch colony at New 
Amsterdam, and the name is still lovingly retained by the inhabitants 
of Manhattan Island. It was in use as early as 1661, as we learn from 
an allusion in Jacob Steendam's poem in "Praise of New Netherland" 
[H Lou/van Mew Nederland).^ 

The allusion to the Mossbuuker is as follows : 

" Swart-vis, en Koch, en Haring, en Makreel 
Schelvis, Masbank, en Voren die (se veel) 
Tot walgina toe, de netten'vukl : en lieel 
Min ward ge-eeten." 

" The black and rock-fish, herring, mackerel, 
The haddock, mossbanker, and roach, which fill 
The neta to loathing ; and so many, all 
Cannot be eaten." 

Allusion has already been made in the letter of Professor Trumbull, 
to the great schools of " marsbanckers " seen by Dankers and Sluyter 
on their visit to New York, in 1679, and every one remembers the refer- 
ence to this fish in Irviug's " Knickerbocker," in connection with the 
death of the renowned trumpeter, Antony Van Corlear, where the name 
first appears crystallized in its present form.§ 

* This probably misled De Kay, who stated that the menhaden were known at the 
eastern end of Long Island as " skippaugs." He also remarked that " pauhagen " (pro- 
nounced Pauhaitgcn) was the Narragansett ejiithet, while "menhaden" was that applied 
by the Manhattan Indians. 

t Appendix O. 

t This poem, cited by Professor Trumbull in the Report of the Commission of Fish 
and Fisheries for 1871-'72, i>. 1G8, was printed, with an English translation, by Hon. 
Henry C. Murphy, for the Bradford Club, of New York (Anthology of New Netherland : 
Bradford Club Series, No. 4, 1HG5, pp. 52, 55). 

§ A History of New York * * * By Diedrich Knickerbocker. New York, 1809. 

" It was a dark and stormy night when the good Antony arrived at the creek (sagely 
denominated Haerlem 7-iver) which separates the island of Maunahatta from the maiu 



HISTORY OP THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 13 

The derivation of this name may be easily traced, it having evidently 
been transferred by the Dutch colonists from the scad or horse-mack- 
erel, Caranx trachurus (Linn.) Lacepede, a fish which annually visits the 
shores of Northern Europe in immense schools, swimming at the sur- 
face in much the same manner as our Brevoortia, and which is known to 
the Hollanders as the Marsbanker.* 

In the Museum Ichthyologicum of Gronow,t published in 1754, the 
name MarsbanTcer is used in speaking of a scombroid fish, frequently 
taken with the herring, j)robably the same below referred to4 

The name is variously spelled " mossbunker," " mossbonker," " mass- 
banker," ''mousebunker,""marshbunker," "marshbanker,"and"morse- 
bonker," and is also familiarly shortened into " buuker," a name in com- 
mon use at the eastern end of Long Island. 

26. The name '' alewife " was given by the Virginia colonists to this 
species from its resemblance to the allied species known by that name 
in England. This name is preoccupied by the Pomolobus pseudoharengus^ 
and should never be applied to Brevoortia. 

27. The presence of a parasitic crustacean {CymofJioa prcegastator) in 
the mouth of Brevoortia, when found in southern waters, explains the 
name " bug-fish " prevalent in Delaware and Gheaspeake Bays, the 
Potomac and Rappahannock Eivers, and the inlets of North Carolina, 
with its local variations of "bug-head" and '' buggy-head." § " Yellow- 
land. The wiud was high, the elements in an uproar, and no Charon conld be found 
to ferry the adventurous sounder of brass across the water. For a short time he vapored 
like an impatient ghost upon the brink and then, bethinking himself of the urgency 
of his errand, took a iearty embrace of his stone bottle, swore most valorously that he 
would swim across in spite of the devil (Spyt den Duyvel), and daringly i)lunged into 
the chasm. * * * An old Dutch burgher, famed for his veracity, and who had been 
a witness of the fact, related to them * * * that he saw the duyvel, in the shape 
of a huge moss-bonker, seize the sturdy Antony by the leg and drag him beneath the 
waves. * » * Nobody ever attempts to swim across the creek after dark, and as to 
the moss-bonkers, they are held in such abhorrence that no good Dutchman will ad- 
mit them to his table who loves good fish and hates the devil." 

* See Schlegel, Die Dieren van Nederland, Yisschen, p. 4. 

t Museum | Ichthyologicum, | sistens | Piscium | indigenorum & quorundam exoti- 
corum, I qui in | Museo | Lawrentii Theodori | Gronovii, J. U. D. | adservantur, descrij)- 
tiones | ordine systematico. | Accedunt | nonnuUorum oxoticorum Piscium icones teri 
incisa?. | * ' » » * | (Cut) | Lugduni Batavorum, | Apud Theodorum Haak, | 
MDCCLIV. I folio, 10 preliminary pages, pp. 70. 

\ SO. Scomher linea laterali aculeata, pinna, ani ossiculorum triginta, Arted. Gen. 25, n. 
3, Synon. p. 50, n. 3. 

Scomber linea laterali curva, tabellis os- Belgis Marsbanker Frequentissime in 
seis loricata, Gronov. act. wjw. 1742, p. 83, Mari Septentrionale cum Clupeisp. 5, u. 4, 
ibique defer. Trachurus, Bossuct, epigr. p. descriptis capitur. 

74, Bellon. Aquat. p. 180, Dale. Hist, of Op. cit. p. 34. 

Harw., p. 131, n. 5. 

§ Captain Atwood states in the Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History, 
X, 1865, p. 67, that the half-grown menhaden are called "bug-fish" by the Virginia 
negroes, because they believe them to have been produced from insects, since they 
never find sijawn in them there. 



14 REPORT -OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

tail," "yeilow-tailed sbad," and " green-tail" refer to the yellowish-green 
tint of the caudal fin, observed only in Southern specimens. The former 
of these names has led to some confusion among our correspondents, 
the same name being applied in Georgia and Florida to a very different 
fish, Bah diella punctata (Linn.) Gill. 

28. An allusion to the oily nature of the flesh is found in " fat-back," 
a name in general use in the Southern States. This name is sometimes 
applied in Northampton County, Virginia, to the mullet {Mugil lineatus). 
In the last century it was used for the Albula conorhynchus.* 

The confiict of names amorig the American representatives of the herring 

family. 

29. The representatives of the herring family most abundant in the 
waters of Great Britain are three — the shad {Alosa finta), the alewife 
{Alosa vulgaris), and the herriug {Glupea harengus). Their names were 
at an early date appropriated for representatives of the same family on 
our own coast. The name " shad " is, from Maine to Florida, yielded 
by Common consent to our Alosa sapldissima, which, in many jjarticulars, 
resembles its namesake, though they " be bigger than the English 
Shaddes and fatter," as an early writer declares.t 

In the Southern States this fish is sometimes called " white-shad," 
to distinguish it from the Borosoma Cepedianum, there known as the 
"mud-shad" or "gizzard-shad." On the coast of New England, the 
mattowocca or tailor-herring {Pomolohus mediocris) is sometimes called 
the "hickory-shad," and also the "sea-shad," under which name it is 
often confounded with the true shad, which is known from recent iuvest- 
igations to be frequently taken far out at sea in company with mackerel, 
alewives, and menhaden. In the Bermudas, there being no large clu- 
peoid fish, the same name has been for centuries applied to two species 
which somewhat resemble it externally — Eucinostomus gula and Eucinos- 
tomus Lefroyi, Goode. 

The " herriug," or " English herring," of New England north of Cape 
Cod is identical with that of Great Britain, but at certain points in 
Southern New England, such as New Bedford, this name is transferred 
to Pomolohus pseudoharengus, and on the Hudson Eiver the usage is 
general, though the species is occasionally called the alewife. South 
of the Hudson the name " herring" is universally used in connection 
with this species of Pomolobus, and the allied Pomolohus mediocris or 
"mattowocca," which is known as the "tailor-herring" or sometimes, 
as in the Saint John's Eiver and about Cape Cod, as the " hickory-shad." 
In the great lakes the name " herring" is also represented, being applied 
to one of the whitefish family, the lake-herring [Argyrosomus clupei- 
for mis). 

To Pomolohiis pseudoharengus the name "alewife" is commonly ap- 

* See Garden, iu Correspondence of Linuiuus, j). 335. 

t New England's Prospect. By William Wood. London, 1G34. 



HISTORY OF THE AMEEICAN MENHADEN. 15 

applied in New England, and even, occasionally, as mentioned above, in 
New York. South of New York it is used for Brevoortia tyrannus only. 
The name is corrupted into "old-wife" and "ell-wife," "wife," and on 
the Connecticut River appears under the guise of "ell-whop." At 
Maurice Eiver the Brevoortia is called "old- wife chebog," "chebog" 
being probably of Indian origin. Thomas Morton, writing in 1G32 of 
the fishes of Virginia, gives the names "shadd" and "allize" as in use 
among the colonists at that time.* The original derivation of the word 
"alewife" is somewhat obscure, though it may probably have originated 
in Alausa, the name applied by Ausonius to the European shads in his 
celebrated poem on the Moselle River — 

Quis non norit, 

Strideatesque focis opsonia pleljis alausas. 

The transition through the French "alose," the English "allis," 
" allice," or " alize," is not difficult, and when we find these names 
together with "alewife" applied indiscriminately to the same fish, it is, 
to say the least, suggestive. Such an etymology is at least more satis- 
factory than that of Josselyn, so often quoted : " The Alewife is like a 
Herrin, but has a bigger bellie; therefore called an Alewife."t 

6. Zoological names. 

Latrohe's description of Cltipea tyrannus. 

30. Our species was first described by Mr. B. H. Latrobe, in a communi- 
cation to the American Philosophical Society in 1802,| under the name 
Clupea tyrannus. Although this article, and the name therein proposed, 
have long since been lost sight of, there can be little doubt that they 
refer to the menhaden, and that the laws of priority demand that the 
species shall henceforth be known as Brevoortia tyrannus. The fishes of 
the Chesapeake and its tributaries have, until within the past three years, 
been very little studied, and the habits of the menhaden in those waters 
are so different that it is not strange for Northern ichthyologists to have 
made mistaken identifications of Latrobe's specific uame.§ In fact, it 
was supposed, not many years since, that the southern limit of the men- 
haden was north of the Capes of Delaware, while its habit of ascend- 

* New English Canaan ; or New Canaan ; containing an abstract of New England. 
Force's Hist. Tracts, vol. ii, Tract 5. 

t An Account of two voyages to New England, a Description of the country, natives, 
and creatures. By John Josselyn, Gisnt. 1G75. Col. Mas. Hist. Soc, 3d series, IH. 
1833. 

iA Drawing and Description of the Clupea Tyrannus and Oniscus prsegustator. 
By Benjamin Henry Latrobe, F. A. P. S. < Transactions of the American Philosophical 
Society held at Philadelphia for promoting useful knowledge. Vol. V, 1802, p. 77. 

§ Dr. Dekay, misled by the name " alewife," which he supposed to be applied to the 
same sj)ecies at the north as in southern waters, ax^plied Latrobe's name to the north- 
ern " alewife," calling it Alosa tyrannus, a usage which was concurred in by Storer and 
by Cuvier and Valenciennes. The same name was referred to the shad by Professor 
Gill in some of his earlier writings. 



16 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

ing the rivers of the South and the presence of the peculiar parasite 
were quite unknown. 

Latrobe's description is reproduced in Appendix D^ and the reader 
may decide the question for himself. It is believed that the following 
circumstances clearly indicate the meaning of its author : 

(1.) The figure, while undeniably bad, resembles the menhaden very 
closely, and manifestly cannot be intended to represent any allied 
species. The contour, were the missing dorsal fin supplied, is similar 
to that of the menhaden, the black spot upon the scapular region is con- 
stant in the menhaden only, though a similar one is occasionally seen 
upon the shad and the alewife. While the figure resembles somewhat 
the menhaden, it does not resemble the allied species. 

(2.) The name " bay alewife" is still applied to the menhaden in this 
region. This is a strong argument, for, although seventy-five years have 
liassed since Latrobe wrote, the persistence of popular names is very 
remarkable, as I have elsewhere pointed out.* Moreover, Latrobe was 
also acquainted with a " herring" and a " shad." These being elimin- 
ated, there is no fish but the menhaden to which the description in 
question can refer. 

(3.) The habits of the alewife as described by Latrobe are essentially 
the same as those of tbe menhaden in the present day. As has been 
remarked, it is only recently that the river-ascending habits of the spe- 
cies have been understood, and the statement that the alewife began to 
ascend the Potomac in March, which was two months earlier than the 
menhaden was known to strike our coast, formerly was thought to 
throw the identity of the two out of question. 

(4.) The presence of the crustacean parasite is the strongest argument 
of all. While this is found in the mouths of a large percentage of the 
southern menhaden, it has never once been found attached to any other 
species, although careful search has been made by several persons. As 
has been remarkied, the northern menhaden are free from this parasite, 
and this is still another reason for the failure to identify. 

31. The next mention of this species was by Professor Mitchill, under 
the name Clupea menhadenA By this specific name it has been known 
ever since, and it is to be regretted that it is necessary to replace by 
another a name so appropriate and of such long standing. 

Descriptions of later dates. 

32. ] n 1818, the eccentric Rafinesque redescribed the species as Glupea 
neglecta, the specific name being chosen because he supposed the species 
to have been neglected by Dr. Mitchill in his comprehensive catalogue 
of the fishes of New York.l 

* Catalorrue of tho Fishes of tlio Bermudas, 1876, p. 15. 

t The fishes of New York described and arranged. <[ Transactions of the Literary and 
Philosophical Society of New York, Vol. I, 1815, p. 453. 
t American Monthly Magazine, Vol. II, 1818, p. 206. 



niSTOHY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 17 

33. In Belknap's History of jSTew Hampshire, this species is mentioned 
under the name '•^Cliipea dura Iwvi mystax (hardhead)."* Since no de- 
scription is given, this name can have no significance. 

34. Mitchill's "New York Shadine" {Clupea sadina)f appears to be 
identical with Brevoortia iyrannus, as is indicated by the smutty oper- 
cular spot, the wide and toothless mouth, and protruding gill apparatus. 
The deciduous character of t: e scales may have been due to poor pres- 
ervation of the type specimen. 

Gronow, in 1763, described the species under the name Chtpea Garo- 
lme7isiSjX ^ut his manuscript was not published until 1854, and his name 
must yield [)recedence to those which are really much more recent. 

The GuJf Menhaden. 

35. A second North American species of menliaden has recently been 
discovered. A description will be given in a subsequent paragraph (42). 
This species has been reported only from the Gulf of Mexico. The 
name chosen for it has reference to the presence of a parasite which has 
already been mentioned, and which was described by Latrobe as the 
Oniscus pra^gustator. This parasite is common to both Brevoortia tyran- 
nus and Brevoortia patronus, the gulf form; the specific name of the 
latter has been selected to carry out the quaint conceit of Latrobe, who 
fancied that the menhaden resembled a Eoman ruler in having a "taster" 
who first tested every dish to prove its harmlessness. 

The Menhaden of Brazil. 

36. The species described, from Brazil, by Agassiz and Spix, under the 
name Cliipanodon aureus^ does not appear to be distinctly separated 
from Brevoortia iyrannus. No diagnostic characters can be detected in 
the descriptions of either Agassiz or Giiuther ; that is to say, characters 
which do not disappear upon the study of a large series of specimens. 
Agassiz's specimens, collected probably atBahia, and in 1829 preserved 
in alcohol in the Munich Museum, were eight inches long. He himself 
seems to have had an inkling of their identity with the North American 
species, from the fact that he cites, doubtfully, as a synonym, Mitchill's 
CAiipea menada. The difference in spelling this specific name is doubt- 
less an attempt to put in Latin form the Indian name used by Mitchill. 
Two specimens from Sambaia, Brazil, and one from Kio Janeiro, col- 
lected by the Thayer expedition, agree closely with the figure in Spix's 

* Belknap's History of New Hampshire, Sd ed., 1813, HI, p. 133. 

t Trans. Lit. and Phil. Soc, N. Y., 1814, pp. 457, 458. 

t Catalogue of Fish, collected and described by Lawrence Theodore Gronow, now in 
the British Museum. Published by order of the Trustees, London, 1854, pi>. 140. 

§ Selecta | Genera et Species | Piscum | quos | in Itinere per Brasiliara | Annia 
MDCCCXVII-MDCCCXX | * • * | collegit, et pingeudos curavit | Dr. J. B. do 
Spix, I » * * I digessit, descripsit, et observatiouis anatomicia illustravit | Dr. L. 
Agassiz, I * * # I Monachii, | Typis C. Wolf | = | 1829, p. 52. 
2 F 



18 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

work. The species is not well separated, and is at best but a geographi- 
cal race of Brevoortia tyr annus. 

Barwiii's Menhaden. 

37. The Alosa pectinata described by Jenyns,* from specimens col- 
lected by Charles Darwiu at Bahia Blanca, appears to be a well-defined 
species, distinguished chiefly by the lesser number of transverse rows of 
scales. lu the Natural Museum is a specimen (No. 1709) collected by 
Captain Page, U. S. N., in the expedition of the United States steamer 
" Waterwitch" to Paraguay. The extremely pectinate scale, given in the 
figure of Alosa pectinata, and upon which so much stress is laid hy Mr. 
Jenyns, is taken from one of tbe differentiated rows immediately in front 
of the dorsal fin, which are alike pectinate in all species of the genus. 
Two specimens belonging to the Museum of Comparative Zoologj', col- 
lected in the llio Grande, agree thoroughly with Mr. Jenyns' description 
and with the Paraguay specimens already referred to. 

Generic relations. 

38. Dr. Storer first referred the species to the genus Alosa, where it 
stood until 18G1, when Professor Gill proposed for it a new genus, which 
he named Brevoortia, in honor of the Hon. J. Carson Brevoort, of New 
York City. This genus is characterized by peculiarities of structure in 
scales, gills, gill-rakers, and alimentary canal. 

A revision of the American species. 

39. The type of the genus Brevoortia of Gill is the species described 
in 1802 by Latrobe under the name Cliipea tyrannus, and later by Mitchill 
under the name Clupea menhaden. As has already been indicated 
(Proceedings U. S. National Museum, vol. 1, p. 5), the former name has 
the prior claim to adoption, and the species must be called Brevoortia 
tyrannus. Of this species there appear to be two geographical races or 
subspecies. One of these is the typical form of the Atlantic coast of the 
United States, the other a closely-allied form from the coast of Brazil, 
already described by Spix under the name of Gliipanodon aureus. For 
the species the name of Latrobe should be retained, and the two subspe- 
cies may be distinguished as Brevoortia tyrannus, menhaden and Brevoortia 
tyrannus, aurea: a third subspecies is temporarily adopted to include 
some aberrant forms from Noank, Conn., for wLich the name Brevoortia 
tyrannus hrcvicaudata is proposed. On the coast of Patagonia and Para- 
guay occurs a well marked species, described by Jenyns under the 
name of Alosa pectinata. Tbis species is readily distinguished by its 
larger scales, which are arranged in 18 to 20 lateral rows, instead of 
25 to 27, as in B. tyrannus. The generic relations of this species were 
recoguized many years ago by Professor Gill, and its name should stand 
as Brevoortia pectinata., (Jenyns) Gill. 

*The Zoology of the Voyage of li. M. S. Beagle, »fcc. * * * Part IV. Fish. 
* * * London, 1842., p. 135, i)l. sxv. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 19 

A third species occurs iu the Gulf of Mexico. It is distinguished by 
its larger head and fins and other characters. It appears to have never 
been described, and, for this lorm, the name of Brevoortia patronus is 
proposed. It is accompanied by the same crustacean parasite that is 
found in the mouths of B. iyrminus, to which Latrobe gave the signifi- 
cant specific name oiprcvgustator. 

C— DESCRIPTIONS OF THE AMERICAN SPECIES OF MEN- 
HADEN, WITH ANATOMICAL AND PHYSIOLOGICAL 
NOTES. 

7.— TECHNICAL DESCRIPTIONS. 

Brevoortia tyrannus. 

40. The following is a careful description of the common menhaden, 
which occurs on the east coast of the United States and Brazil : 

Brc^^ooD'faa tyranMws (Latrobe) Goode. The Menhaden. 

Diagnosis. — Head and jaws short ; the length of the head less than 
one-third of the length of the body less the caudal fin ; especially 
short in subsp. aurea, the maxillary iu length much less than three-twen- 
tieths of the length of the body. 

Height of body about one-third of total length, in very fat individuals 
about three-eighths. Fins comparatively short, tbe height of the dorsal 
less than length of maxillary, and considerably less than three-tenths of 
length of body ; that of the anal usually less than half that of maxil- 
lary; that of ventral always less than one-tenth of total length; the 
length of middle caudal rays one-fifth that of body, and less that of ex- 
terior caudal rays, usually about three fourths, often less than two-thirds, 
and rarely more than five sixths of total length. Fins all shorter in subsp. 
aurea. Insertion of ventral far behind tip of pectoral. Insertion of dor- 
sal about equidistant from snout and base of middle caudal rays, but 
varying two or three one- hundredths to either side of this median point, 
and always slightly behind the vertical from insertion of ventral. 

Scales of medium size, much serrated, arranged very irregularly iu 
21-26 transverse and GO-80 longitudinal rows. Scales forming sheath at 
base of pectoral not large. Squamation of caudal lobes moderate. Oper- 
culum strongly striated in subsp. menhaden, almost smooth in subsp. 
aurea. Scapular blotch conspicuous. 

This species is easily distinguished from Brevoortia patronus by its 
shorter head and fins, by its slender body and its pectinated scales, and 
from B. pectinata by its smaller, less regularly arranged, and more 
numerous scales, and its shorter, less furcate caudal fin. 

Individual variations and special descriptions. 

Read. — The length of the head varies from 28 to 33 hundrdths of 
total length. The posterior end of the maxillary extends to a point in 
the vertical from the centre of the orbit. The length of the skull, as 



20 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

indicated by the " distance from snout to nape," varies from .19 to .23. 
The length of snout, measured from a line drawn perpendicularly 
through the centre of the orbit, varies from .09 to .11. The length of 
maxillary varies from .12 to .14^ ; that of mandible from .15 to .18. The 
diameter of the eye enters 4J times in the length of the head ; its width 
varies from .11 to .15 in very fat individuals. 

Shape of body. — This is exceedingly variable, and the variation is 
caused largely by the fatness of the individual. In very plump ones, 
the expansion of the belly throws back the origin of the ventrals and 
anal, and greatly changes the appearance of the fish. In the specimens 
before me the height of the body ranges from .31 to .38^. The table of 
measurements subjoined shows the effect of increased height of body 
upon the other measurements of proportion. 

Mns, — The range of variation in the position of the dorsal is indicated 
in the diagnosis. There is no appreciable correlation between the 
positions of the dorsal and anal in the same specimen. The insertion of 
the anal is distant from the snout from ,G8 to .75. The length of the rays 
in dorsal, anal, ventral, and caudal vary much, as the table of measure- 
ments indicates. In the caudal the upper lobes vary from .16 to .25, the 
lower lobes from .18 to .27. The relation of the pectoral and ventral fins 
is much affected by the length of the head, the insertion of the former 
being thrown much farther back in long-headed individuals. 

Scales. — The degree of serration varies much in individuals as well as 
the squamation of the bases of the vertical fins, and the number and 
regularity of the body-scales. In young individuals the scales are ar- 
ranged with much regularity, but in the adults I have strong reason to 
believe that other scales are intercalated here and there throwing the 
arrangement into great disorder and rendering an accurate enumeration 
impossible. 

Subspecies. 

The series before me embraces some two hundred specimens of Bre- 
voortia tyrannus of various ages, seasons, and localities. Almost every 
feature is subject to wide variations, and there is usually no decided 
correlation between different characters except that a long head is accom- 
panied by long jaws and a pectoral set farther back and extending 
more nearly to the insertion of the ventral. There are, however, certain 
groups of individuals which can be included within a diagnosis, which 
may serve to distinguish them from all the others of the same species. 
To what extent it is desirable to define varieties which are not separated 
geographically, I am not well satisfied. The exact meaning of the terms 
"sub-species" and "variety," as employed by Cope, Coues, Gill, Yarrow, 
and other recent writers, has not been definitely interpreted. It seems 
desirable, however, to designate in some way the limits of variation 
from the normal specific types in different directions. With this pur- 
pose, and remarking that by a subspecies I mean simply a divergent form 
connected by intermediate forms with the typical specific form, I have 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 21 

thought it desirable to name provisionally two varieties, and to call 
attention to others which may possibly exist. This is done with much 
hesitation, and only with a view to an attempt to formulate the minor 
differences to be observed between fish of the same species on different 
parts of our coast. A precisely parallel case is to be found in the shad 
of the different Atlantic rivers, which are well-known to exhibit strong 
distinctive marks. Very possibly every school of menhaden has its own 
characteristics. In every case where I have had an opportunity to 
observe them, the individuals composing the same school were closely 
similar to each other. 

The typical form of the species, as now defined, is taken from the coast 
of Soathern New England and the Middle States. It has the height of 
the body about one-third of the total length, the head three-tenths of 
the total length, or a little more; the maxillary long (.14 to .14A), and 
exceeding the height of the dorsal. 

The species described by Spix, under the name of Clvpanodon aureus, 
cannot be distinguished by any apparent specific characters from Bre- 
t'oortia tyrannns, since one or more of the specimens of the latter species 
before me partakes of some of the peculiarities of the Brazilian form. 
There is, however, a general average of character exhibited by the Bra- 
zilian specimens, as well as the figure of Spix, with which they closely 
agree, which seems to me to entitle them, for the present at least, to 
recognition as belonging to a distinct geographical race. The dis- 
tinctive characters appear to consist in (1) a greater average height of 
body ; (2) a lesser length of head ; (3) a lesser average length of maxil- 
lary and mandible; (4) a slightly lower anal and dorsal fin ; (5) a greater 
average distance of anal from snout ; (G) a greater average length of 
the medial caudal rays; (7) a shorter average length of pectoral; (8) a 
more regular arrangement of the scales, and a more luxuriant growth 
of small scales at the basis of the fins. 

A number of specimens Irom Noank, taken in 1874, vary quite as 
much from the normal type, and in almost the same respect as the vari- 
ety just described. The maxillary and mandible are shorter, however, 
than in the Brazilian form, the anal fin lower and the lobes of the cau- 
dal are extremely short, sometimes hardly exceeding in length the pec- 
toral tin. But for the fact that these specimens show almost all the 
characters of the Brazilian Brevoortia, and in some cases exaggerations 
of them, I should be inclined to consider the aurea a distinct species. 
Having with some hesitation allowed to this the rank of a subspecies, 
the question must be decided as to the propriety of also allowing sub- 
specific rank to this peculiar form from Noank. The exact meaning of 
the terms subspecies and variety, as recently employed by zoologists, is 
not very clear to my mind, but I infer a " subspecies " to be composed of 
an assemblage of individuals varying uniformly from the typical spe- 
cific forms in a degree sufficient to be susceptible of description and 
definition, though not necessarily separated from it by the absence of 



22 



REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



connecting forms. Premising, then, that in giving to the Noank speci- 
mens a subspecific name, my object is simply to define the limits of 
variation from the normal type in a given direction, I would provis- 
ionally propose that they be designated as subspecies brevicaudata. 

The specimens from the Saint John's liiver, Florida, are extremely 
variable in every respect. Certain individuals show a tendency to elon- 
gation of the head and tins, and also a slenderness of the posterior part 
of the body, and nearly all the individuals from that region are more 
lightly and gracefully shaped ; they all have a tendency to a yellow 
coloration, especially upon the caudal lobes. 1 have not felt justified, 
however, in calling it a subspecies. 

1 have not had an opportunity to study the Maine schools, but am 
inclined to believe that their differences are very perceptible. 

In plate VI are shown the chief variations of form. Fig. 1 shows the 
typical lorm; tig. 2 the subspecies brevicaudata ; fig. 3 the average form 
from the Saint John's liiver, Florida ; fig. 4 the subspecies aurea. 

Table of measurements. 



Current number tf specimen. 
Locality 



Extreme length 

Boily : 

Greatest height 

Least hciy;hi of tail 

Louj^th of caudal peduncle 

Hend : 

Greatest length 

Distance Irotu snout to nape 

Greatest width 

L.eu'iiu of snout from pejp. from centre of orbit 

Length of opereul im 

Leiigtii of maxill;iiy 

Length of mandible 

Distance from snout to center of orbit 

Dorsal : 

Distance from snout 

Length of base 

Oi'igia of pectoral to origin of dorsal 

End of dorsal to end of anal 

Length of longest ray 

Length of last ray 

Anal : 

Distance from snout 

Lengtli of base 

Origin of anal to origin of dorsal 

Length of longest ray 

Length of last ray 

Caudal : 

Length of middle rays 

Length of external rays, superior 

interior 

Pec teal: 

Distance from snout 

Distance of tip Iroin snout 

Leugtli 

Length of longest axillary appendage 

Ventral: 

Distance from snout 

Length 

Origin of ventral to end of dorsal 

Dcrsal 



Anal 

dumber of scales in lateral line 



10,405=709 
U. A. S. 



Wood's Holl. 



Millim. lOOths. 



Very /at. 
251 



9 
9i 

32 

20 
15 

10 
9 
14i 
I'J.f 
lOi 

54 
19 
41 



73 

14 

39 
6J 
5i 

5h 
23' 
2fii 

30 

4i?.\ 
19" 
11 



10,405 = orig. 
Ho. 247. 

Wood's Holl. 



Millim. lOOths. 



Plump. 
243 



20 
20 
107 



31 i 



10 

9 

14J 

1-iJ 

wi 

51 
17.1 
3J| 
24 
11 
7 

7-2 

^^ 

33 

5J 



20* 
23 

32 

48 
Hi 



53 

n 

31 



20,C66 a. 
Wood's Holl. 



Millim 



lOOths. 



31 

20i 



10 J 

9 

14 

17 
lOJ 

49 

I'i 
35i 
25 

hh 

CJ 



154 
3G 

44 

^ 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN* 
Table of measurements — Continued. 



23 



Current number of specimen 
Locality 



20,6CG h. 
Wood's noil. 



Millim. 



lOOths. 



18,049 b. 

Saint John's 
Kiver. 



Millim. 



lOOths. 



1,096 a. 

Indian River, 
Florida. 



Millim. 100th8. 



Extreme length 

Body : 

Greatest height 

Head : 

Greatest length 

Distance from saout to nape 

Greatest width 

Length of snout from porp. from center of orbit 

Length of opercuhim 

Length of maxillary 

Length of maudibie 

Distance from snout to center of orbit 

Dorsal : 

Distance from snout 

Lenj;th of base 

Oriuin of pectoral to origin of dorsal 

End of ddrsal to end of anal 

Length of longest raj^ 

Length of last ray 

Anal: 

Distance from snout 

Length of base ■ 

Origin of anal to origin of dorsal 

Length of longest ray 

Length of last ray 

Caudal: 

Length of uiiddlo rays 

Length of external rays, superior 

interior 

Pectoral : 

Distance from pnout 

Distance of tip from snout 

Length 

Ventral : 

Distance from snout 

Length 

Origin of ventral to end of dorsal 

Dorsal 

Anal 



13'J 



140 



19G 



Fat. 



lU 
9 

171 
12" 

53 
19 
35 
24 
1-2 
t) 

72 
15 
34 

6i 



6 

22i 
27 

32 

48J 
18 

52 
9i 
33 



30 
21 
11 
10 
9.V 
13' 
IC 



49 
18 
34 
20 
12 
CA 



6i 
21' 

27 

30 
47 
17 

50 

9 

33 



10 

9 

13^ 

17 



16 

38 
*5+ 

*3 + 

*4+ 
*22 
*24 



Current number of specimen . 
Locality 



Extreme length 

Body : 

Greatest height 

Least height of tail 

Length of caudal peduncle 

Head: 

Greatest length 

Distance from snout to nape 

Greatest width 

Length of snout from perp. from center of orbit. 

Length of operculum 

Length of maxillary 

Length of mandible 

Distance from snout to center of orbit 

Dorsal: 

Distance from snout 

Length of base 

Origin of pectoral to origin of dorsal 

Ena of dorsal to end of anal 

Length of longest ray 

Length of last ray 



5,152. 

TVest Florida. 



Millim. lOOths, 



101 



10 
9* 
13' 
15 



Snint J< hn's 
Eiver, Fla. 



Millim. lOOths, 



(1-inch.) 
178 



34i 

10 

8 

31?; 

20.^ 
12 
10 
9* 
14' 
18 
lU 



52 
21 
34* 
20' 
12 
5 



19,046. 

Saint -Tohu's 
Eiver, FJa. 



Millim. lOOths, 



33 

20J 
12 

lOJr 
9i 

18 
10* 

52i 

17 

34 

25 

12 



■ Broken. 



24 REPOKT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 
Table of measurements — Continued. 



Carrcnt number of specimen. 
Locality 



West Florida. 



17,927. 

Saint John's 
Elver, Fla. 



Saint John's 
River, Fla. 



Millira. lOOtbs 



Anal : 

Distance from snout 

Lenjith ol' base 

Origin of anal to oiiyln of dorsal 

Length of longest ray 

Length of last ray 

Caudal : 

Leugth of middle rays 

Length of external rays, superior 

inferior 

Pectoral : 

Distance from snout 

Distance of tip Irom snout 

Length j. 

Length of longest axillary appendage 
Ventral : 

Distance from snout 

Length 

Origin of ventral to end of dorsal 

Dorsal 

Anal 



Millim. lOOths. 



(7-twc/i. ) 



Millim. lOOths, 



C8 
16 
38 

6i 

5 

5 
21 
23 

31 J 
49 
19 
12 

49 

9 

33* 



18 or 19 
21 



72 
16 
32§^ 

6 

6i 

H 
20 
24 

32 
50 
18 



Current number of specimen 
Locality ■ 



19,044. 



Saint John's 
liiver, Fla. 



18,049 a. 

Saint John's 
Eivor, Fla. 



19,468. 
Virginia. 



Millim. lOOths. 



Extreme length 

Body : 

Greatest height 

Least height of tail 

Length of caudal peduncle 

Head: 

Greatest length 

Distance from snout to nape 

Greatest width 

Width of interorhital area 

Length of snout from per p. from center of orbit 

Length of operculum 

Length of maxillary 

Length of mandible 

Distance from snout to center of orbit 

Dorsal : 

Distance from snout 

Length of b ise 

Orifiin of pectoral to origin of dorsal 

End of dorsal to end of anal 

Length of longest ray 

Length of last ray 

Anal: 

Distance from snout 

Length of base 

Origin of anal to origin of dorsal 

Length of longest ray 

Length of last ray 

Caudal : 

Length of middle rays 

Length of external rays, superior 

inferior 

Pectoral : 

Distance from snout 

Distance of tip from snout 

Length 

Length of longest axillary appendage 

Ventral : 

Distance from snout 

Length 

Origin of ventral to end of dorsal 

al 



Dors a 
Anal. 



Millim. lOOths. 



9^ 
10 
13 
16 
10 

49 
17 
35 
27 
12 
6 

71 
17 
34 

6 

6 



18 
21 



Millim. lOOths, 



10 

10 

13 

161 

11 

49 
17 
35 
29 
1-34 
64 

71 

17* 
37' 

7 
4 

5 
25 
27 

30 
45 
17 



50 
8J 
34' 



32J 
20^ 
12 

7 
10 

9 
14 
X8 
11 

51 
18J 
34 
23 
11 
54 

72 

144 

33 

5i 

G 



32 

49 
18 
12 

51 
9 

30 



HISTOEY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 



25 



Tal)le of measurements — Coutinued. 



Current number of specimen 
Locality 



14,846 a. 
Noank. 



14,84t) 6. 
Noank. 



Brevoortia 
aurea. M. C Z. 



Eio Janeiro. 



Millini 



Extreme length 

Body : 

Greatest height 

Head : 

Greatest length 

Distance from snout to nape 

Length of snout from perp. from center of orbit 

Length of operculum 

Length of mayillary 

Length of mandiblo 

Distance from snout to center of orbit 

Dorsal : 

Distance from snout 

Length of base 

Origin of pectoral to origin of dorsal 

End of dorsal to end of anal 

Length of longest ray •.... 

Length of last ray 

Anal : 

Distance from snout 

Length of ba<?o 

Origin of anal to origin of dorsal 

Leiigth of longest ray 

Length of last ray 

Caudal : 

Length of middle rays. 

Length of external rays, superior 

interior 

Pectoral : 

Distance from snout 

Distance of tip from snout 

Length 

Ventral : 

Distance from snout 

Length 

Origin of ventral to end of dorsal 

Dorsal 

Anal 



lOOths. 



Millim 



29 
20 
10 
9* 
li 

10 

49 
19 
its 
25 
10 
6 

74 
15 
3C* 

4 

17' 

18 

28 
41 
12 

52 

7 

34 



lOOths. Millim. 



34i 

28 



47 
20 
34 
25 

9 

G 

72J 
IC" 
37 

5 

IJ 

5i 
It) 
20i 

28 
43 
15 

50 

7 

36 



236 



II 17 
19 



lOOtbs. 



35 

274 

21 

10 



28 
4-3 
15 

49 
8 





B. aurea, A. 

M. C. Z. Thayer 
Sambaia. Exp. 


B. aurea, B. 

M. C. Z. Tliayer 
Sambaia. Exp. 






Aver- 
age. 








Millim. 


lOOths. 


Millim. 


lOOths. 


lOOths. 




164 




154 






Body : 


37 

28 
19 
9 
13 
15 

49 
12 
5 

75 
6 
4 

6 
25 

29 
44 
16 

53 

7 


34 

29 
22 
10 
14 
17 

48 

10 

5 

73 
5 
3 

5 
23 

30 
47 
16 

52 

7 


35 


Head : 






28 








21 


Length of suout from perp. from center of orbit. 






OPf 






13 








151 


Dorsal : 

Distance from snout 






49J 


Len^ih of longest rav 






lOJ 








045 


Anal : 






73§ 








05i 








031 


Caudal : 

Length of middle ravs . 






05^ 


Length of external rays, superior } 








inferior y 

Pectoral : 








29 








44§ 


Length 






15§ 


Ventral : 

Distance from snout 






51 i 








0^1 


Dorsal 


IL17 
20 


n.i7 

22 




Anal . .. . .... 

















26 REPOET OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

Brevooriia imtro7ius, 

41. The following is a careful description of the uew species oi Bre- 
vooriia from the Gulf of Mexico : 

Brevoortia pntronaiis, spec. nov. Goode. The gulf MENHADEN. 

Diagnosis. — Head larger than in the other American forms ; its length 
usually more than one-third that of the body, the maxillary about three- 
twentieths of tbe length of the body. 

Height of body always more than three-eighths of its total length, its 
anterior inferior profile cultrate, convex, giving an obtusely rounded pro- 
file to the subpectoral outline, and throwing the snout above the median 
horizontal axis of the body. Fins long and powerful ; the height of the 
dorsal usually equal to the length of the maxillary and about three- 
tenths of total length of body ; that of the anal equal to a greater than 
half the length of the maxillary ; that of the ventral one-tenth of body- 
length 5 length of middle caudal rays always more than one-fifth and 
often more than one-fourth the length of the head; that of the exterior 
rays almost equal in length to the head and rarely less than five-jixths 
of its length. Insertion of the ventral under or slightly posterior to the 
tip of the pectoral. Insertion of dorsal always posterior to a point on 
the dorsal outline equidistant from the snout and the base of the medial 
caudal rays (sometimes as much as seven one-hundredths of total length), 
and always in advance of the vertical from the insertion of the ventral. 

Scales of medium size, with entire fluted margins arranged regularly 
(in young) in 24-25 transverse and 50-70 longitudinal rows. Scales 
forming sheath at base of pectoral very large, round squamations of cau- 
dal lobes inconspicuous. Axillary ai)pendages large. Operculum smooth 
or very delicately striated ; scapular blotch inconspicuous. 

The variations of individuals are snflicieutly indicated in the sub- 
joined table of measurements. The most characteristic specimens occur 
at Brazos Santiago, Tex., and the more northern specimens show a 
tendency to shortening up of the head, jaws, and fins. 

* Description. — The body is much compressed, especially below and in 
advance of the pectorals ; the contour of the belly between the ventrals 
and the gill-opening is cultrate, projecting, obtusely rounded. The height 
of the body equals two-fifths of its length, and the least height of the 
body at the tail is one-fourth of its greatest height in front of the pec- 
torals. The length of the caudal peduncle, from the end of the anal 
to the base of the exterior lobes of the caudal, is one-fifth of the height 
of the body and one-twelfth (.08) of its length. 

The head is elongated and large, triangular ; its length is more than 
one- third (.35 and .34) that of the body, and its height at the nape is 
slightly more than its length. The length of the skull, as indicated by 
the distance from snout to nape, is about one-fourth (.24 and .24^) of the 

• To avoid confngion this is drawn up from the Brazos Santiago specimens, which 
are most characteristically developed. 



HISTORY OF THE ^MEEICAN MENHADEN. 27 

length of the body, and the greatest width of the head (.13) slightly 
exceeds the half of this. The width of the interorbital is about equal to 
the diameter of the orbit aud slightly more than one-fourth the length 
of the head. The maxillary reaches to the vertical from the posterior 
margin of the pupil ; the mandible nearly to the vertical from the pos- 
terior margin of the orbit. The length of the maxillary is abont equal 
to that of the longest ray of the dorsal fin (.15 to .10) ; that of the mandi- 
ble (.19), to half the distance from the origin of the anal to the origin 
of the dorsal (.38), or to the length of the base of the anal (.18). The 
distance from the tip of the snout to the center of the orbit (.13 to .13|) 
equal the greatest width of the head. The length of the operculum is 
equal to that of the eye ; the opercular striations are fine, but distinct 
and numerous. The dorsal fin is inserted posteriorly to a point equidis- 
tant from the snout and the base of the caudal, and in advance of the 
vertical from the insertion of the ventrals. Its length of base (.20 to .21^) 
is double that of the operculum. Its greatest height is nearly half the 
length of the head. It is composed of 19 rays, of which the third is the 
largest. Its upper edge is slightly emarginated. The height of the last 
ray (.10) is equal to half the length of the base. The distance of the 
anal from the snout is slightly less than three-fourths of the length of 
the body (.70-.72); its length of base (.18-.18^) one-fourth of this dis- 
tance. The distance from the origin of the pectoral to the origin of the 
dorsal (.37-.37i) is about equal to that from the origin of the anal to 
that of the dorsal (.38). Its height (.9-.9J) is about half its length of 
base ; its least height (at last ray), one-third of the same (.6-5^). The 
tin is composed of 22 rays, its edge slightly emarginated. The caudal 
tin is much forked and elongate; the middle caudal rays (.08) half the 
length of the maxillary ; the exterior rays above (.31-.32) twice that 
length ; the lower exterior rays (.35-.34) nearly equal to twice the 
length of the mandible. 

The pectoral fin is strong, falcate, inserted under the angle of the 
suboperculum at a distance from the snout (.35-.34) about midway to 
the insertion of the anal. Its tip extends beyond the insertion of the 
ventrals, its length (.22) being nearly two-thirds that of the head. The 
axillary appendages are half as long as the fin, or more. 

Tbe distance of the ventral from the snout (.51-.55) is about the same 
as that of the dorsal, though by the contour of the body it is thrown 
slightly behind the point of dorsal oiigiu. Its length (.10) is equal to 
that of the last ray of the dorsal. The scales are quite regularly arranged 
in about 21 to 25 horizontal and 50 vertical rows. Their free portion is 
narrow and high. They are entire at the edges and fluted or crenulated. 
There are two rows of differentiated scales upon each side of the dorsal 
line, but they are scarcely pectinated. The scales forming the sheath 
at the base of the pectoral are large and round. Color : silvery, with a 
brassy sheen upon the sides and greenish-gray upon the back. 



28 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

Tahle of measurements. 



Current number of specimen. 
Locality 



Extreme length 

Body : 

Greatest height 

Least height of tail 

Length of caudal peduncle 

Head : 

Greatest length 

Distance from snout to nape 

Greatest width 

Length of snout from perp. from center of orbit 

Length of operculum 

Length of maxillary 

Length of mandible 

Distance from snout to center of orbit 

Dorsal : 

Distance from snout 

Length of ba-'e 

Origin of pecioral to oritin of dorsal 

End of dorsal to end of anal 

L ngth of longest ray 

Length of last ray 

Anal: 

I>istance from snout 

Length of base 

Origin of aual to origin of dorsal 

Length of longest lay 

Length of last ray 

Caudal : 

Length of middle rays 

Length of external rays, inferior 

Pectoral : 

Distance from snout 

Distance of tip from snout 

Length 

Length of longest axillary appendage 

Ventral : 

Distance from snout 

Lengllj 

Origin of ventral to end of dorsal 

Dorsal 

Anal 

Number of scales in lateral line 



Brazos Santiago, 
Tex. 



Millim. lOOths- 



19 
22 
47 to 50 



40J 
11 



25 

24 Jt 

IJ" 

12 

10 

16 

19 

13f 

53 

2U 

37 

25 

15 

10 

72 

18h 
38" 

9 

6 



Brazos Santiago 
Tex. 



Millim. lOOths. 



19 

22 
47 to 50 



40i 
10 

8 

34 

24 

13 

UA 

10" 

irj 

18.i 
U 

531 
20 
37i 
26 
16 
9 

'0 

18 
38 



891 o. 



Month of Eio 
Giande. 



Millim. lOOths. 



(t) 



18 
22 
JG5 



33 

23i 

U 

12 

11 

16 

19 

12J 

51 

17 
37 
26 

n 

70^ 

19 

36 

5 

8 
26 

28 

33i 

53 

18i 



Current number of specimen 
Locality 



Extreme length 

Body: 

Greatest height 

Least height of tail 

Length of caudal peduncle 

Head : 

Greatest length 

Distance from snout to nape 

Greatest width 

Length of snout from perp. from center of orbit 

Length of operculum 

Length of maxillary 

Length of niandiblo 

Distance from snout to center of orbit 

Dorsal : 

Distance from snout 

Length of base 

Origin of pectoral to origin of dorsal 

End of dorsal to end of anal 

Length of longest ray 

Length of last ray 

* Superior. f Inferior. 



Mouth of Rio 
Grande. 



Millim. lOOths, 



4U 
11" 

ih 

33 
23 
11 
11 

12 
14i 
16" 
13 

52 
19 
39 
28 
17 
9 



Mouth of lUo 
Giande. 



Millim. lOOths. 



30 

22i 



lU 

10" 

14 

174 

12" 

57 
17 
37 
f7 
14 
7 



5,864 a. 



New Orleans 
Academy. 



Millim. lOOths, 



I About. 



HISTOKY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 

Table of measurements — Continued. 



29 



Current number of specimen 
Locality 



8916. 



Mouth of Kio 
Grande. 



891c. 



Mouth of Rio 
Grande. 



5,864 a. 

New Orleans 
Academy. 



Millim. lOOtbs, 



Anal: 

Distance from snout 

Length of base 

Origin of anal to origin of dorsal 

Length cf longest ray 

Length of last r.ay 

Caudal : 

Length of middle rays 

Length of external rays, superior 

inieiior 

Pectoral : 

Distance from snont 

Di.stanc8 of tip from snout 

Length 

Length of longest axillary appendage 
Ventral : 

Distance from snout 

Lcnj^th 

Origin of ventral to end of dorsal 

Dorsal 

Anal 

Number of scales in lateral line 



18 
22 

tcs 



Millim. lOOths. 



69 
20 
39 

8* 
4| 

7 
25+ 
27+ 

32 
52 

20 



51 
9A 
35' 



18 
21 
J05 



Millim. lOOths, 






19 
22 

t:o 



Current nnmber of specimens. 
Locality 



Extreme length 

B>>dy: 

Greatest height 

Head : 

Greatest length 

Distance from ."snout to rape 

Length of .siiont from perp. from center of orbit. 

Length of opeiculum 

LeuLith of maxillary 

Length of mandible 

Dorsal : 

Distance from snont 

Length of base 

Origin of pectoral to origin of dorsal 

End of dorsal to end of anal 

Length of longest ray 

Length of last ray 

Anal : 

Distanca from snout 

Length of base 

Origin of anal to origin of dorsal 

Length of longest ray 

Length of last tay 

Caudal: 

Length of middle rays 

Length of external rays, inferior 

Pectoral : 

Distance from snout 

Distance of tip from snout 

Length 

Ventral : 

Distance from snout 

Length 

Origin of ventral to end of dorsal 

Dorsal 

Anal 

Number of scales in lateral lino 



5,864 b. 

New Orleans 
Academy. 



Millim. lOOths. 



30 

2U 

10' 

10 

13J 

1G' 

57 

33' 

26 

12 

5J 

70 
17 
3G 

6 

4 

6 
25 

30 
47 
17 

53 

8 

32 



5,864 c. 



Millim. lOOths 



74 






38J 




33 




24 




11 




10 




14* 




52 




19 




36 




25 




14 




7 




m 




1!) 




37 




9 




6 




e^ 




32 




50 




19 




52 




10 




35 


10 




21 





• Imperfect. 



t About. 



; Or more. 



30 



REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



Brevoortia pectinata. 

42. The following is an exact description of Jenyns species of Bre- 
' voortia from the Atlantic coast of Paraguay and Patagonia : 

Brevoortm pcctiainta (Jenyns) Gill. Darwin's Menhaden. 

Diagnosis. — Proportions of head and jaws as in B. iyrannus. Height 
of body almost three-eighths of total length, and greater proportionally 
than in B. ti/rannus. Fins nearly as in B. iyrannus, but uniformly 
averaging slightly more ; the height of the dorsal somewhat less than 
three-twentieths of total length ; that of the anal equal to or slightly 
less than half the length of the maxillary. The caudal fin is somewhat 
longer and more furcate; the length of the external rays never being 
less than five-sixths of the length of the head, while that of the medial 
rays remains proportionally the same as in the species first described. 
Insertion of ventral somewhat behind tip of pectoral, this fin and this 
dorsal being uniformly somewhat farther back than in B. tyr annus ; the 
insertion of the latter from one to four one-hundredths posterior to a 
point equidistant from the snout and the base of the median caudal rays, 
and, as in B. iyrannus, behind the vertical from the insertion of the veu- 
trals. 

Scales very large, considerably serrated, and arranged regularly iu 
18-20 transverse and 50 longitudinal rows. 

Scales forming sheath at base of pectoral not large. Operculum 
smooth or with inconspicuous and few striations. Squamation upon 
lobes of caudal extensive and conspicuous. 

Variations. 

The variations in the individual specimens studied are not of great 
importance, and are indicated in the tables of measurements. 

Table of measurcmenls. 



Current number of speciaieu . 
Locality 



Extreme length 

Body; 

Greatest height 

Head : 

G reateat length 

Distanco from snont to nape. 

Leu'ith of maxil'ary 

Length of mandible 

Dorsal : 

Distance from snout 

Length of lon'^est ray 

Length of last ray 

Anal : 

Distance from snout 

Length of longest ray 

Length of last ray 



l,'-09. 
Paraguay. 



A. 



M. C. Z. 
Rio Grande. 



Millim. 



250 



lOOths. 



33 
21 
Uh 

Irf" 

54 

6" 

701 
7' 
C 



Millim. 



224 



lOOths. 



B. 



M. C. Z. 

Rio Grande. 



Millim, 



209 



lOOtbs. 



30 
21 
14 

KiJ 

51 
12 



lOOths. 



31 
21 
11 
17 

52J 
12 
6 

71 

G 

n 



HISTOEY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 

Table of measurements — Continued. 



31 





1,709. 


A. 


B. 




Locality | 


Paraguay. 


M. C Z. 
Kio Grande. 


M. C. Z. 
Rio Grande. 


Aver- 
age. 




Millim. 


lOOths. 


Millim. 


lOOths. 


Millim. 


lOOths. 


lOOthb. 


Caudal : 




24+ 
20 

32 
50 

IS 

5U 

H 


"ii'.ii' 

L20 
4!l 
20 


6 
2.5 
27 

29 
47 
17 

48 
8 


' ILli 

I. 20 

49 

20 


25 

28 

30 
47 

18 

40 


6 


Length of external lays, snp«rior 

Interior 

Pectoral : 




25 

27 

3Ci 

48 










17? 


Ventral : 

Distance from snont 




491 






83 




1!) 

*50 
*20 





























"Approximately. 

8. — Size and bate of growth. 
Length and iveight. 

43. The Largest specimen ou record is represented by a plaster cast 
in the National Museum, which is 20 inches in length. The average size 
of the fish upon the coast of Connecticut and Massachusetts is not far 
from 12 to 15 inches. The United States Menhaden Oil and Guano 
Association, in estimating the number of fish in a certain bulk, allow 22 
cubic inches to each fi.sh. The relation between length and weight is 
indicated in the following measurements, made at Noank, Conn., in 1875. 
These fish were all members of the same school. 



Number. 


Length. 


Weight. 


Number. 


Length. 


Weight. 


1 


Inches. 
12J 

m 

i2i 
I'^i 

13 

12 

12J 

12i 

12A 

12* 

m 

13 


Ounces. 
11 
10 
11 
12 
12 
13 
11 
12 
12 
12 
11 
13 
12 
16 
12 


16 


Inches. 
12i 
12" 
12 
12.1 

13 

12" 
12 
13 

ii* 
12 
12 
12 
12 


Ounces. 
12 


2 


17 

18 


11 


3 : 


11 


4 


19 


12 


5 


20 


12 


C 


21 


11 


7 




10 


8 


23 


11 


9 


24 


12 


10 


25 


12 


11 


26 


11 


12 


27 


11 


13 


28 

29 


11 


14 


11 


15 


30 


11 









Variations in the schools. 

44. The table given in the preceding paragraph indicates a very 
decided uniformity in the size of the individuals making up the same 
school. I have observed this uniformity in many schools, though I 
have not often measured many individuals from the same school. This 



32 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

uniformity in length and weight is less remarkable, however, than the 
uniformity to be noticed in the shape and proportions of the members 
of the same schools. Variations are chiefly observable in the thick- 
ness and height of the body and the head and in the length of the fins, 
especially the pectorals and the caudal. These differences in shape are 
necessarily correlated with the activity and swiftness of the fish. Hence 
the differences in the wariness, swiftness, and difficulty in capture, so 
often referred to by old menhaden fishermen. 

As a general rule, according to Mr. Dudley, the fall fish are mixed 
together without reference to fatness ; the latest ones, however, which 
are supposed to be the main fish on their southern migration, are gen- 
erally fat. 

Anmial rate ofgrotvth. 

45. The shad is supposed to attain its full size in four years. Cap- 
tain Atwood believes that the mackerel requires an equal length of time 
in which to grow to its adult size of 17 or 18 inches. From studies 
made in 1856, he concluded ihat they grew to the length of 2 inches 
in about thirty days, and 4 inches in forty-five days, becoming 6J or 
7 inches long before the October migration, the spawning having 
taken place about the middle of May. In the second year they are the 
" blinks; " in the third, " tinkers ; " and in the fourth, full-grown mack- 
erel. The menhaden must require three and perhaps four years to 
attain adult size. Those which strike in at midsummer on the coast of 
New England are probably hatched from the eggs spawned in the pre- 
vious fall and winter. They are from 2 to 5 inches long. The second 
year's growth is doubtless represented by the smallest sizes of the school- 
ing fish, measuring from 7 to 10 inches, such as are catalogued in bottles 
Nos. 14045, 1484(5, and 18049. The third year's fish would be represented 
by the abundant schools of fish of 12 and 14 inches, like those with 
measurements specified in paragraph 43. The full-grown fish are the 
immeuse ones taken in Maine and Massachusetts, measuring 10 and 18 
inches. 

A most interesting circumstance is narrated by Mr. George W. Miles, 
to whom I am indebted for many very valuable suggestions utilized 
elsewhere. His observations were made in Long Island Sound. He 
writes: — "In 1873 there were immense numbers of small fish, from 1 to 2 
inches long, which appeared on the surface in the month of September. 
Thousands of schools could be seen at a time and great numbers in each 
school. They appeared to take possession of all the waters for the 
remainder of that season. In 1874 these fish appeared again, late in 
the season, and were about double the size they were in 1873. In 1875 
they appeared again, much earlier, and in 187G they came in about the 
first of June, having increased in size and numbers. Apparently they 
occupied the whole waters of the sound, so much so, that the larger fish 
which frequented the sound were actually crowded out of it or left for 
other waters, and remained off Block Island at sea the remainder of the 



niSTOEY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 66 

season, and gave up the field to be occupied by the smaller fish. The 
result of this abundance of small fish was a complete failure of the 
fishery for the two years 1875 and 1S7G. In 1877 we provided ourselves 
with smaller-meshed nets, and proceeded to catch the smaller fish, which 
had now attained about two-thirds the average size of fish in this locality 
and weighed about half a pound each. We could catch these by using 
nets of 2^- inch mesh. About 15,000,000 of them were taken by our 
twelve gangs." Mr. Miles's observations seem to indicate that the 
period of growth sometimes, if not always, extends over a period of five 
or six years. 

Seasonal rate ofgroictJi. 

46. There is probably a much greater proportional increase in the size 
of individuals in the three or four months of their sojourn in northern 
waters than in the winter and spring. This is clearly indicated by the 
emaciated condition in which they make their first appearance in our 
waters, their winter's existence having been apparently sustained by the 
absorption of the fatty tissues elaborated in summer. Indeed, as will be 
shown below, there is some reason to believe that the winter months are 
passed in partial or total torpidity. 

9. — Color and other minor characteristics. 

Color of Northern fish. 

47. The adult menhaden is a most beautiful fish. Its color is pearly 
opalescent, like that of the cyprinoid fishes from which the commercial 
Essence d^Orient, or liquid pearl, used by artists, and in the manufacture 
of paste jewelry, is prepared. Each scale has all the beauty of a fine 
pearl, and the reflections from the mailed side of a fish just taken from 
the water are superb. The scales of the back and the top of the head 
are of a purplish blue. The blotch of black upon the scapular region, 
just above the origin of the pectoral, is very constant, although I have 
seen fish in which it did not occur. Many, especially the older and fat- 
ter ones, have a number of irregular, roundish, blue-black blotches upon 
the sides and flanks. The young fish are not so brilliantly colored, and, 
in general appearance, resemble the young of the shad. 

Color of Southern fish. 

48. Many of the Southern fish show metallic, brazen, and golden re- 
flections from the flanks and fins. Agassiz's Clupanodon aureus, from 
Brazil, was similarly colored. The name "yellow-tail," commonly ap- 
plied to this species in the Southern States, is in common use as far 
north as Cape Hatteras. 

Axillary apijendages. 

49. In the axils of the paired fins are long differentiated scales, which 
cover the angles of the fins, and are evidently intended to promote swift 

3 F 



34 REPOET OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

progression in the water. Those attached to the pectoral are often 
nearly as long as the fin itself. A series of large shield-like scales 
cover the bases of these fins, apparently with the same object as the 
axillary scales. These are particularly large in the species from the 
Gulf of Mexico. 

Scales. 

50. The scales are, in the young fish, arranged in comparatively regu- 
lar rows. In adult specimens of the Brevoortia tyranntis all sem- 
blance of regularity disappears, and it is impossible to count either lon- 
gitudinal or vertical rows. The number of scales is enormously increased, 
apparently by the growth of additional scales in the interspaces between 
those already arranged in regular order. The number of scales in the 
longitudinal rows is from GO or 70 in young individuals, to 110 in adults; 
in the vertical rows, 25 or 26. 

10. — Internal organs. 

Gillstrai7iers. 

51. There are no vestiges of teeth in the mouths of any members of 
the geuns Brevoortia. These fish do not feed upon living animals, and 
teeth would be useless to them. Their place is supplied by an ar- 
rangement of setiform appendages, attached to the anterior edges of the 
arches supporting the gills. These are closely set, flexible, and in 
Brevoortia iyrannus about 170 in number on each side of each of the 
arches. There being thus four rows upon each side of the mouth, there 
must be in the mouth of the menhaden from 1,400 to 1,500 of these 
thread-like bristles, from one-third to three quarters of an inch long. 
These may be so adjusted that tbey form a very effective strainer, much 
resembling that of the right whale. This strainer is much finer and 
more effective than in the whale, the number of bristles being much 
more numerous than are the plates of baleen in the mouth of the right 
whale. The uses to which this strainer is applied will be discussed 
below, in paragraphs 119-125. 

The accessori/ branchial organ. 

52. There is also a curious accessor^' branchial organ, situated be- 
tween the top of the fourth branchial arch and the base of the skull. 
This has been described from dissections of a fish identified as Clupano- 
don aureus, Spix, in a paper by Prof. Joseph Hyrtl,* cited in full in the 
Bibliography. 

The alimentary canal. 

53. The alimentary canal in the menhaden is peculiar. The pharynx 
is continued, in a straight canal, to the point of the siphonal stomach, 
which extends backward nearly to the posterior extremity of the in- 
testinal cavity, then turning at an acute angle returns nearly to the 

* Deukschriften Kaisorl. Akad. Wiss. Mat.-Nat. Class, vol. x, 1855, p. 49. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 35 

boad, where it expands into a globular pear-shaped muscular organ 
with thick walls, which have their inner surfaces rugose, like those of 
the gizzard of a gallinaceous bird. At the anterior end of the stomach 
is a mass of fine, filiform, pyloric appendages, surrounding the origin of 
the intestine, which is very long and is arranged in two coils, one upon 
each side of the stomach, enveloping it completely. The length of the 
intestine is five or six times that of the whole fish. 

The sivim-hlaclder. 

54. The swim-bladder is small and inconspicuous. Its walls are thin. 
It is not probable that it contains enough gelatine to be of commercial 
importance. Hyrtl was unable to detect its presence in the fish studied 
by him as Clupanodon aureus^ but which was probably something very 
different. 

III.— GEOGRAPHICAL DISTEIBUTIOX AND MOVEMENTS. 

11. — GEOGRAPHICAL RANGE. 
Limits in 1877. 

55. It is not easy to define exactly the boundaries of geograi^hical 
range for any species, unless they be marked by some impassable bound- 
ary. It is especially difiBcult in the case of fishes. The limits of their 
wanderings appear to depend directly or indirectly upon temperature, 
and to vary considerably, from season to season, with the seasonal vari- 
ations in the mean temperature of the water. 

As nearly as it can conveniently be expressed the range of the north- 
ern menhaden, Brevoortia tyrannus, is as follows: it is to be found at 
some period during the year in the coastal waters of all the Atlantic 
States from Maine to Florida (approximately between the parallels of 
north latitude 25° and 45°); on the continental side it is limited ai)proxi- 
mately by the line of brackish water; on the ocean side, by the inner 
boundary of the Gulf Stream. What may be the limits of its winter 
migrations it is impossible to say. A surface temperature of about 51° 
is necessary for its appearance in waters near the shores. 

Variations of the northern limit in the past. 

56. Its northern limit of migration seems to have always been the 
Lay of Fundy. Perley, writing in 1852, stated that they were sometimes 
caught in considerable numbers in weirs within the harbor of Saint 
John's, N. B.* 

*Descriptive Catalogue (in part) of the fishes of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, 
by M. H. Perley, esq., Her Majesty's emigration officer at St. John's, New Brunswick. 
(Second edition.) Fredericton : J. Simpson, Printer to the Queen's Most Excellent 
Majesty, 1832, p. 30. 



36 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

Mr. G. A. Boardman, of Calais, Me., inl'orms me that large scLools 
have beeu seen during the summer iu Passamaquoddy Bay aud the 
lower Bay of Fundy. 

James Lord, of Deer Island, Charlotte County, ]^. B., testified before 
the Halifax Commission that he had taken porgies in the neighborhood 
of Cami^o Bello, but that none had been seen there for ten years or 
more.* 

Mr. J. F. Whiteaves declares that of late years none have been found 
in j^ew Brunswick, nor to the north of Grand Manan.t 

The claim of Professor Hind that they have been found as far north 
as Canso, is not, to my knowledge, supported by satisfactory evidence. 

At present the eastward wanderings of the schools do not ap[)ear to 
extend beyond Isle au Haut and Great Duck Island. These islands are 
les4 than forty miles westward of the boundary of Maine and New 
Brunswick. 

Southern limit of range. 

57. Dekay supposed the southern limit of the menhaden to be in the 
neighborhood of Chesapeake Bay, but it has for some years been known 
that they occur in great abundance on the coast of North Carolina. I 
found them to be abundant in the Saint John's Eiver, Florida, in March 
aud April, 1874: and 1875, and it is quite certain that they are found 
there throughout the winter. In the National Museum are specimens 
(Catalogue No. 769G) collected at Indian Eiver by Mr. Wurdemann. Mr. 
Charles Dougherty, of New Smyrna, Fla., tells me that he has observed 
numerous large schools during the winter in the open ocean ofi" Cape 
Canaveral and Mosquito Inlet. 

Old fishermen from Key West, who are j)erfectly familiar with the 
fish, assure me that it is never seen about the Fioriua Keys. 

Oceanic limits of range. 

58. Beyond these bounds nothing certain is known. The thorough 
and indefatigable labor of the twenty years during which Professor 
Poey has been investigating the ichthyology of Cuba justifies us iu tak- 
ing his word that the menhaden is not found iu those waters. It has 
not been found at any other point in the West Indies, nor is it recorded 
from the coast of South America, though other species of the same genus 
have been found there. The investigations of Mr J. Matthew Jones aud 
myself have failed to discover it about the Bermuda Islands, and it ap- 
pears to be unknown to the fishermen at that point. 

Menhaden in the Gulf of Mexico. 

59. Mr. S. H. Wilkinson, keeper of Cat Island light-house, Missis- 
sippi Sound, writes that no fish resembling the menhaden is found in 

*Proceeclius8 Halifax Commission, 1877, Appendix F, p. 245. 

t Sixth Report Department of Marine and Fisheries, Appendix U, p. 195. 



niSTOEY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 37 

those waters; aud a similar statement is made by Gapt. J). P. Kane, of 
the Matagorda light-station, Texas, who is a native of Maine, and has 
been engaged in pogy-fishing in that State. He has for the past eight 
years been engaged on the coast from Florida to Mexico, and has never 
seen menhaden or heard of their being caught south of Cape Hatteras, 
with one exception. 

Capt. William Nichols, pilot, residing in Saluria, Tex., informed Cap- 
tain Kane that in September, 1872, great quantities of pogies drifted 
upon the beach at Saluria, and that the waters of the Gulf of Mexico and 
Matagorda Bay were full of them. Gapt. William E. Spicer, of Noank, 
Conn., is positive that he has encountered schools of these fish while 
seining for the Mobile market off Tampa, Fla. 

These statements probably refer to the Gulf menhaden, recently dis- 
covered at various points in the northern Gulf of Mexico, aud easily dis- 
tinguished from the northern species. 

Eange of other species. 

GO. On the coasts of Brazil aud at Montevideo occurs a geographical 
race of our northern species, the Brcvoortia tyrannus, aurea, while still 
farther south, in the waters of Buenos Ayres, is another species, Brc- 
voortia pectinata. The latter was first taken by Charles Darwin, on his 
memorable voyage around the world, in a net on a sand-bank at Bahia 
Blanca (latitude 39° S). Very probably the species is abundant along 
the coasts of the Argentine Republic, in the broad mouth of the Rio de 
la Plata, and from the analogy of our species, well up the southern coasts 
of Brazil, perhaps to Rio Janeiro. It is not unlikely that the eastern 
coast of South America is as abundantly supplied as our owu with these 
most valuable fishes. Valenciennes states that the Portuguese of South 
America call the Brcvoortia aurea by the name Savega. 

Again, on the coasts of West Africa occurs a species, Brcvoortia dorsalis, 
closely resembling the menhaden. An old fisherman in Maine told me 
that he had seen the menhaden in immense quantities on the western 
coast of Africa, where the negroes spear them and eat them. 

Illustrations and descriptions of all the known American species are 
given elsewhere in this memoir. 

Alleged occurrence on the Pacific coast. 

61. The Hon. S. L. Goodale, of Saco, Me., writing under date October 
25, 1877, states that some menhaden fishermen of Bristol, Me., have 
recently sent one of their number to prospect for them on the Pacific 
coast, and that his reports were so favorable that several of them with 
their families had left a few weeks previously for W^ashington Territory, 
where they were informed that " pogies " were abundant. If this report 
be true, it is quite certain that the explorers are doomed to disappoint- 
ment. No fish resembling the menhaden occurs in the Pacific Ocean. 



38 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

It should be noted, however, that wherever representatives of this 
genus of fishes occur there is doubtless an opportunity for establishing 
new industries of great value. It would be well worth while for enter- 
prisiug fishermen to investigate this subject. The Government of Japan 
has recently employed one of the best informed of our ]!^ew England 
fishermen * to instruct the natives of that country in the arts of catch- 
iug and preserving food-fishes. 

As has already been stated, there are abundant supplies of these fish 
on both sides of the South Atlantic. There is apparently no reason wby 
exteusive manufacturing interests may not be inaugurated in Brazil, the 
Argentine Eepublic, Paraguay, and Africa. 

12. — THE ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE OF THE SCHOOLS. 

Causes influencing times of arrival and departure. 

02. The date of the earliest appearance of the schools of menhaden at 
any given point upon the coast corresponds very closely with that of the 
arrival of scup, shad, bluefish, and other of the non-resideut summer 
species. It depends primarily upon the temperature of the water. This 
element is of more importance, perhaps, in the case of the meuhadeu 
than with the carnivorous fishes, since the food-supply of the former 
is not likely to be aftected by changes of temperature. There are other 
questions to be considered, such as the movements of hostile species and 
the direction of the prevailing winds, though the latter may, perhaps, be 
merged in the question of temperature. Their departure is regulated by 
the same causes, though, since their food-supply is less uncertain, they 
linger later in our waters than most of their companion species of the 
spring. 

Material availahle for tlie determination of dates. 

63. The material for determining the movements of the schools is very 
unsatisfactory, though perhaps of necessity so. Although many of 
our correspondents give dates of arrival and departure, these are under- 
stood to be merely approximations to the truth. The only series of 
observations showing the dates of the arrival of menhaden for a period 
of several successive years is one from the Waquoit weir, and this profes- 
ses to show nothing except the date at which the fish began to be 
abundant. In the nature of the case, observations of a more definite 
nature are impracticable. Since so little that is definite can be recorded, 
it may be desirable to review the statement, of some of our correspond- 
ents, thus putting on record a series of observations all carefully made 
and many of them extending over a long period of years. In this way 
the movements of the menhaden at ditiereut points upon the coast 
will be described more accurately and graphically than they could be by 
any compiled account, however carefully it might bo prepared. It is 

* Capt. U. S. Treat, of Eastport, Me. 



HISTOKY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 39 

Loped, too, that this course may suggest aud elicit fuller observations 
from persons living in our seaboard towns. 

A review of the general movement along the coast. 

64. At tbe approach of settled warm weather the schools make their 
appearance in the coast waters. They remain in the bays and near the 
shores until they are warned away by the breath of coming winter. 
The date of their appearance is earlier in the more southern waters, aud 
the length of their sojourn longer. It is manifestly impracticable to 
give anything but approximate dates to indicate the time of their move- 
ments. In fact, the comparison of two localities, distant apart one or 
two hundred miles, would indicate very little. When wider ranges 
are compared there becomes perceptible a proportion in the relations 
of the general averages. There is always a balance in favor of earlier 
arrivals at the more southern localities. Thus, it becomes apparent that 
the first schools appear in Chesapeake Bay in March and April, on the 
coast of New Jersey in April and early May, and on the south coast of 
New England in late April and May, off Cape Ann about the middle of 
]\Iiiy, and in the Gulf of Maine about the latter part of May and the 
first of June. Returning tbey leave Maine in late September and Octo- 
ber, Massachusetts in October, November, and December, Long Island 
Sound aud vicinity in November aud December, Chesapeake Bay in 
December, and Cape Hatteras in January. Farther to the south they 
appear to remain more or less constantly throughout the year. 

Coast of Florida. 

65. In the Saint John's River, Florida, menhaden are abundant 
throughout the winter. They appear in November clogging the shad- 
nets. It is not known how far they proceed up the river, but I was 
unable to learn that they have been taken above Buckley's Blutt", twelve 
miles above Jacksonville and thirty-six from the mouth of the river; 
tliey are particularly numerous at the mouth aud in the vicinity of May- 
})ort and Yellow Bluff. That they remain as late as May is well estab- 
lished, and it is the opinion of Mr. Kemps that they are found through- 
out the summer, the young fish, at least. I have found the grown and 
half-grown fish abundant at Arlington and Jacksonville in April, 1874 
and 1875. Afier the first of May the opportunities are not favorable 
for observation, the use of shad-nets being then discontinued. Youug 
fish are seen from May to October, according to Mr. Kemps, in schools 
ov^er two miles long and extending from shore to shore of the river. 
Along the coast of Florida, from Cape Canaveral north, the schools of 
adult fish are said to be common through the winter months. 

Coast of Georgia. 

66. Mr. Joseph Shepard, of Saint Mary's, Ga., states, on the authority 
of a Saint Andrew's Bar pilot, that small schools of menhaden are 
seen in Saint Andrew's Sound duiiug the summer months, coming over 



40 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

the bar with the flood tide and going out with the ebb, and that the 
same fish are also seen in large schools in calm weather during the win- 
ter months outside the Sea Islands in about seven fathoms of water, and 
three to four feet below the surface. Mr. Charles 0. Leslie, a fish-dealer in 
Charleston, S. C, informs me that schools of menhaden frequently are 
seen in the winter ofit" Charleston Harbor ; a statement which is con- 
firmed by others, among them Mr. Daniel T. Church, of llhode Island. 

Coast of North Carolina. 

G7. Mr. A. C. Davis, of Beaufort, N. C, writes that the fat-back first 
approaches the coast at that place in June, the main body arriving in 
July from the south, entering the rivers and drifting up with the flood 
tide and down with the ebb 5 their appearance is regular and certain, 
and has never failed, the numbers seeming to be greater every year. 
They remain in the rivers and inlets throughout the summer, gradually 
departing toward the close of October and the first of November to the 
southward. During the season they are constantly coming in at inter- 
vals. Those which first arrive are one-quarter to one-half grown, no full- 
grown fish appearing until later in the season. In bad weather, espe- 
cially with northern winds, they leave for the sea, returning in moderate 
weather, with southerly winds. 

Mr. A. W. Simpson, jr., of Cape Hatteras light-station, records sev- 
eral interesting facts concerning the movements of the fat-back around 
that cape. They first make their appearance in June and remain until 
December; they generally come in to the shore on the northern coast of 
the cape, running south along the beach and entering the inlets and 
rivers. In the first of the season they may be seen, in moderate 
weather, five or six miles at sea, in large schools half a mile in length, 
apparently floating upon the surface of the water. They always make 
their appearance from the north and leave the coast by the same route. 
Some are seen in the sounds and rivers all the year. When the second 
large run occurs in the fall they appear in immense numbers. This is 
sometimes in November and in other seasons in December. In 1873 
they were first seen on the coast about the Gth of December, and the 
main body arrived about the lOth of December. Many schools may be 
seen at one time. They seldom come near the coast in high winds and 
rough seas, or if they do they swim so low that they are not seen 
from land. Their appearance is certain and they are about the same 
in abundance every year at the spriug run, but the fall and winter 
runs vary somewhat, the number in some seasons being very much 
smaller. Mr. Simpson thinks that the tides do not affect their move- 
ments in any respect, except that they prefer to swim against the tide; 
he has convinced himself, by careful observation, that more enter the 
inlets on the ebb than on the flood, though they are frequently seen 
drifting up and down channels with the flood and ebb. The one and 
two years' fish school by themselves, the young in large schools aloug 
the sandy shores. Many fish pass the winter in the inlets and rivers, 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 41 

bat most of them leave the coast by a northern route, the spring runs 
leaving in October, the fall runs about the middle of January. Somci 
seasons they go to sea in large schools and others they drop away grad- 
ually. The first of the spring-runs are usually the smallest. During 
the summer the large schools are only seen occasionally, though Mr. 
Simpson thinks that they are on the coast continually. They only come 
near the outer sea-beach when driven in in October and November by 
the tailor {Pomatomus saltatrix), or blue-fish of the North, and the dog- 
fish {31ustelus Iccvis). 

Coast of Virginia and CJiesapeaJce Bay. 

68. According to Mr. Henry Eichardson, the alewives are caught in 
the vicinity of Cape Henry as early as jMarch, though the main body 
does not come in until June and July. During these months they are 
constantly passing the Virginia capes and entering Chesapeake Bay, 
coming from the south. 

The Potomac fishermen inform me that they appear in the spring 
soon after the shad and herring, remaining in the Potomac during the 
season, where they i)rove a serious hinderance to the working of the shad 
seines. Young fish seven inches in length were taken in the lower 
Potomac at Nanjemoy Eeach as late as December 10, 1874, but disap- 
peared after the first heavy frost. The 'first schools appeared late in 
March and early in April, 1875, and in 1878 early in March. 

At Apateague Island, Accomac County, Virginia, according to JMr. J. 
L. Anderton, they are first seen swimming northward near the coast in 
April, the main body arriving in June. Their appearance is regular. 
They run inshore on the flood, drifting off with the ebb. In November 
they are seen making their way toward the south. 

In Tangier and Pocomoke Sounds, says Mr. Lawson, the^^ appear 
about May 1, the fish of different sizes in separate schools ; they are 
found there in quantity throughout the season, the southward migration 
beginning in August and continuing until the middle of October. 

I find a manuscript note by Professor Baird to the effect that they 
are found in large schools at Cape Charles, Virginia, from April to 
October, being most numerous on the bay side of the peninsula. 

Delaware Bay. 

69. Mr. James H. Bell, keeper of Mispillion Eiver light-house, Dela- 
ware Bay, states that fish are first seen in those waters early in March, 
and grow more numerous until about the middle of April, wheu they are 
frightened away by the sea-trout. They soon return in increasing num- 
bers until the middle or last of May, after which they begin to disappear 
in large schools until the first of August, when they again become num- 
erous, and continue so if the weather is mild, when they begin to dis- 
appear, working out to sea through the channel. The opinion of Mr. 
Bell is that after entering the bay they follow the main channel, spread- 



42 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

ing toward the sliores on either side as they advance, until arrested 
by brackish water. The western shore of the bay is very shallow, the 
tide near the beach seldom rising above six or seven feet. When the 
tide is three-quarter's llood the fish run in close to land and are caught 
within twenty yards of the beach ; from slack water to first quarter ebb, 
if it is calm, the water is spotted with the break or ripple, and as the 
tide recedes they float out with it to deep water. Medium and small 
fish are found together, not probably in the same schools, but close 
enough together for the seine to catch fish ranging in length from three 
to nine inches. 

Coast of New Jersey. 

70. According to Mr. Albert Morris, menhaden make their appear- 
ance in Great Egg Harbor, New Jersey, about May 1, the main body 
arriving about June, and leaving about the middle of September, the 
" eastern run " coming along in October or November. 

Mr. A. G. Wolf, keeper of Absecom light, Atlantic City, N. J., writes 
tliat the appearance of the first schools is regular and takes place in 
April, the main body coming in July. They come from the returning 
south by degrees in the fall, beginning in September. 

D. E. Foster, of Cape May lighthouse, states that they appear from 
the south about April, larger but not so fat as the second arrivals in 
July, the majority of which are from four to six inches in length. They 
disappear in November, heading to the north. 

Eastern end of Long Island. 

71. In the vicinity of Greenport, N. Y., according to Captain Sisson, 
the first arrivals are in March and April, and according to Mr. Havens, 
about April 1, while Hawkins Brothers, of Jamesport, put it about the 
1st of May. These gentlemen agree that the first schools contain the 
largest fish ; that they are followed for some weeks by other runs, and 
that the schools leave for the south on the approach of cold weather in 
October and November. 

Mr. Dudley tells me that his steamer usually starts out from Pino Isl- 
and from the 1st to the 12th of May. She never fails to find fish out- 
side of Montauk Point. The gangs which started out for the season, 
April 20, 1877, found plenty of fat fish on the first day out. 

The late schools of large fish which come upon the Connecticut coast 
about the 1st of November, and which are sui)posed to come from the 
coast of Maine, usually strike across from Watch Hill and Fisher's Island 
to the Napeague shore, where they sometimes remain several days before 
their final disapiiearance from those w^aters. 

Long Island Sound. 

72. In the western partof Long Island Sound, at Stratford, according to 
Mr. Lillingston, they appear about the 1st of May and remain until Octo- 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 43 

ber, wlieii they leave at orice, swimming east. Tliey approacli from the 
east. The hirgest fish he thinks are found in August. In August and 
September immense numbers "strike on" and follow up the Housatonic 
Eiver, and these are invariably poor. 

At Milford, Conn., we are informed by Mr. Miles, the first white-fish 
are seen in April or May, the main body arriving in Long Island Sound 
in June and July. Sometimes the first fish are the largest. The schools 
or runs appear to come at intervals of from two to three weeks. The 
fish come in around Moutauk Point, the early fish follow along the Con- 
necticut shore and up the rivers ; later in the season they are found off- 
shore in deep water, though they occasionally work inshore and up the 
rivers. Their appearance is regular and certain. The schools are mixed 
as regards size, in the opinion of Mr. Miles. The schools begin to disap- 
pear about the 1st of September, passing around Montauk Point to the 
south, and are all gone by the 1st to the 15th of October. 

At Westbrook, according to Captain Stokes, they appear about the 
middle of May and leave in November in continuous schools, passing 
around Montauk, bound to the south. In July the schools are the 
largest. 

At Saybrook, says Captain Ingham, the first bony-fish are seen in 
May, the main body arriving in June. The first are scattering and gen- 
erally the largest ; there are several runs at irregular intervals. The 
appearance of the fish is regular and certain. They leave in October 
mostly in a body. 

Captain Beebe, of the Cornfield Point light-vessel, writes that the 
first bony-fish are seen in April, but that these are not the largest. They 
work along the bays and rivers of the sound, drifting in with the flood 
and out with the ebb. They leave about the middle of November in a 
body, passing around Montauk Point to the southward. They ascend 
the Connecticut above the Shore Line Kailway bridge, where they are 
often followed by the seining gangs belonging to Luce Brothers, of 
Niautic. 

BlocJc Island Sound. 

73. Captain John Washington, of Mystic River, Conn., states that the 
first bony-fish arrive in Block Island Sound early in April, followed by 
larger schools toward the last of the month, and that tliey continue to 
come in during the first half of the summer. They come in around Mon- 
tauk in large schools, and after passing the outer islands, the large schools 
break up into smaller ones, which make their way toward the rivers and 
coves. Their arrival is certain and quite regular, varying but a few days 
from year to year. Thej^ begin to leave in October, and by the last of 
November are gone. A few stragglers are seen in the Mystic River until 
the beginning of freezing weather. They swim southward in their fall 
migration, going faster than when coming north in the spring. 

Capt. Jared S. Crandall observes that they first appear in Block Island 
Sound about May 1, coming from the southward and through the east 



44 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

end of Long Island Sound, working to the eastward and westward. 
Their appearance is certain, though their abundance is greater in par- 
ticular seasons. They leave gradually in November and December, 
working to the westward after leaving the sound. Small and large are 
mixed indiscriminate!}^ in the schools. 

At Block Island, according to Mr. Henry W. Clark, they appear about 
the 1st of May, and continue running in until about the middle of June. 
Their appearance is certain but their number variable. They work in 
and out with the tide, but when they are making a i^assage the tide 
does not stop them. They start southward about the middle of October, 
and continue running for a month. 

Mr. Dudley on the schools of Eastern Connecticut. 

74. Mr. Dudley, whose vessels ply their nets in both Block Island and 
Long Island Sounds, tells me that fishing begins at Pine Island from 
May 1 to May 12, and that for quite a number of years fish have been 
taken the first day the vessels went out. In 1877 the vessels which 
started April 20 found plenty of fat fish. Whether the season be hot 
or cold, the fish come at about the same date. Of late years the first 
schools have been v^ery fat ; immediately followed a run of poorer fish. 
The run which begins in the middle of April and continues for three or 
four weeks, is composed of fish yielding from five to seven or eight gal- 
lons to the thousand. The next run of fish continues until about the 
1st of July. These yield not over four gallons. Then follows a poorer 
run, averaging two gallons. In 1877 millions of fish have been taken 
which have not averaged above one quart to the thousand. In 187G it 
was much the same, but in July, wlieu the poor fish were most abun- 
dant, a few schools made their appearance which yielded ten gallons to 
the thousand. Of two gangs, fishing side by side, one might make a 
haul of ten-gallon fish, while the other secured only half-gallon fish. 
Good fish are usually expected in the fall. In 187G, however, they were 
few and poor. In 1877 the schools of fat fish made their appearance 
near Point Judith on the 30th of October. 

Narragansett Bay. 

75. At Point Judith they come in from the westward, according to the 
statement of Joseph VVhaley. They appear about the 20th of May, and 
continue to pass, moving eastward, until July. Their arrival is very 
regular, but sometimes cold weather and easterly winds put them back 
ten or fifteen days. They begin to leave in October. 

JMr. Daniel T. Church, of Tiverton, E. I., states that the menhaden 
make their appearance in Narragansett Bay about May 1, and continue 
running in during the season : their arrival in Narragansett Bay for the 
past eighteen years has been certain, though the time of arrival varies 
with the weather ; they drift with the tide at times, and at others swim 
against it. No fish are taken in the purse-nets after the cold weather 



HISTORY OF TEE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 45 

of the fall, bat tbe gill-nets often take tbem as late as New Yeai's. 
Benjamin Tallman caught 1,C00 barrels (400,000) on December 3.* 

Martha's Vineyard Sotind. 

76. At Menemslia Bight the menhaden appear from April 21 to May 
10, according to Jason Luce & Co., and swim west. Mr. Marchant, of 
Edgartown, thinks that they enter the Vineyard Sound from the south- 
west. It is more than likely that both are right, and the fish enter the 
sound at either end indifferently. They are seen here in November. 

According to Captain Edwards, menhaden come to the vicinity of 
Wood's Holl, Massachusetts, in May, and remain until October. Cap- 
tain Hinckley, of the same place, states that they tirst appear to the 
westward, striking Montauk Point and following along the coast exactly 
like the scup, but going more into the bays ; they go in more shallow 
water; he has seen them in 12 feet. A school looks reddish. He has 
seen a school a mile wide and a mile and a half long. They frequently 
swim near the surface and make a ripple that can be seen. The first 
school swims rather deep, but as they become more plenty they can be 
seen. They generally come in about the 10th of May ; in 1871 the first 
were taken the 21st of April, about three weeks earlier than the aver- 
age. But they strike off again for about a fortnight before they coaie 
regularly. 

Capt. Isaiah Spindel, of Wood's Holl, took the first menhaden of the 
season of 1870, April 23, and the first mackerel at the same time ; these 
were only stragglers, and the best time for catching menhaden that j-ear 
was about the 10th or 15th of May; in 1871 they came on the 21st of 
April, when a thousand were caught ; a few stragglers had been taken 
before, perhaps as early as the middle of April. In 1872 no menhaden 
were seen after the 15th of October. 

In the autumn of 1877, which was unusually late and warm, the men- 
haden lingered on the coast until very late. Vinal Edwards saw many 
taken, November 28, by the North Truro fishermen, and himself found 
them at Wood's Holl, December 1. 

A very definite idea of the date of appearance of the menhaden in 
the Vineyard Sound may be gathered from a table given in the Kepoit 
of the Massachusetts Commissioners of Inland Fisheries for 1871, and 
here reproduced with additions for convenience of reference. 

* Report of the U. S. Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries, 1873, p. 184. 



46 



EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



77. Table slwxvituj dmjs of first appearance in ahnndance of menhaden, aJeivivcs, sciii, and 
hlaejish, at IVaquoit loeir, bince 1859. 



Blue-fish. 



18")!) 
ISiiO 

iHlil 

1862 
18(i3 
]yG4 
16C5 

um 

lfG7 
ISliS 
1869 
1S70 
1871. 



Menha- 
den. 


Alewivcs. 


Scnp. 


May 6 


April 


7 


Moy 5 


May 4 


April 


3 


Mav 2 


May 1 


April 


1 


April 27 


May 6 


March 


30 


May 10 


May 2 


March 


29 


May 8 


May 5 


March 


28 


May C 


Mav 1 


March 


2'J 


May 1 


May 7 


April 


2 


May 8 


May 3 


Maich 


28 


May 4 


May 15 


March 


30 


May 10 


May 10 


March 


31 


May 7 


May 8 


March 


28 


Mav 2 


April 21 


March 


24 


April 25 



May 16 

May 15 

May 17 

May 13 

May 15 

May 17 

May IC 

May 15 

May 14 

May 19 

May 17 

May 11 

May 24 



Irregularities of movements sJioivn hy returns of Waquoit weir. 

78. The returns of Waquoit weir, which was reuted in 1871, by the 
Massachusetts commissioners of inland fisheries, for the purpose of get- 
ting exact statistics on the subject of pound-fishing, show how uncertain 
and irregular are the movements of the menhaden and their capture in 
any fixed locality upon the shore. April 21, 1871, 6,000 were taken ; 
April 23, 13,300; May 1, 17,420; May 5,35,920; May 9, 10,020; May 
10, 10,800; May 11, 14,945; May 13, 14,200; May 15, 7,300; May 10, 
900; May 18, 1,280; May 19, 1,040 ; May 20, 7,G00 ; May 22, 6,C00; May 
23, 26,000; May 24, 2,205; May 25, 780; May 31, 40,300; June 1, 
13,260; June 10, 7,540; June 14, 27,300; June 16, 93; June 17, 19. 
In 1865, from April 21 to May 15, were taken 175,300, and from May 10 
to June 2, 35,800 ; in 1866, between these dates, respectively, 213,730 
and 104,780; in 1807,82,680 and 121,000; in 1868, 45,700 and 79,020; 
in 1869, 66,680 and 79,030; in 1870, 152,590 and 255,340; in 1871, 
136,005 and 99,256.* 

South shore of Cape Cod. 

79. At Hyannis, Mass., writes Mr. A. F. Lathrop, they appear in May 
in small numbers, the greatest season of plenty occurring in June. 
They work along the shore line and into the sounds, bays, and rivers. 
Their appearance is regular and certain, and they disappear in a body 
about the 1st of October. 

Capt. Reuben C. Kenney, of Nantucket, Mass., states that they appear 
in the vicinity of that island about the 1st of May, or a little earlier if 
the season be favorable. They appear to come from the direction of 
Sandy Hook and the coast of New Jersey. They are most abundant in 
June and July, and begin their return in October, all disappearing in 
November. 

Capt. Josiah Uardy second, of Chatham, Mass., writes: — "The men- 
haden seen here are on their route to the eastern shores, coming from 



* Report of tbe Massachusetts Commissioners of Inland Fisheries for 1871, and Re- 
port of United States Commissioner of FiSh and Fisheries 187l-'72, pp. 174-17C. 



HISTORY OF THE AMEEICAN MENHADEN. 47 

the west ; when tbey strike Chatham Bay they swim in large schools, 
coloring the water and followed by numerous sea-birds. They are gov- 
erned by the winds and weather about showing themselves ; in fine 
moderate southerly weather they come up on top of the water. They 
have been caught in our bay as early as the 15th of April, but gener- 
ally not before the 1st of May. I never knew them to fail coming; they 
generally follow the shores, making their way down the sound by Mon- 
omoy Point, and those that get within the point, into the bay, follow the 
shore to get out on their transit east. There is no difference in their 
size in the spring, or a very slight one in some schools. In our bays, 
ponds, and rivers they will head the tide ; they come inshore at high 
water on this coast and at low water keep off the flats and shoal water 
into the channel or deep water, which is from three to seven fathoms 
in our bay. I do not think it makes any difference to them about the 
depth of water; they seem to have a natural instinct, and are just as 
regular in their course and movements as a flock of sea-fowls; when one 
is frightened they all start, if one turns all in the school turn, if one 
goes down all in the school follow. One peculiar trait in them that 
cannot be accounted for is, that on this coast, as well as on the eastern 
shore, sometimes for hours there is not a fish to be seen, then all at once 
they rise to the surface and it is literally full of schools, sometimes turn- 
ing in a complete circle, at other times all headed one way, then all at once 
every one has disappeared. The fish pass here (the cape), bound south, 
in the latter part of September and the first part of October, all moving 
about the same time. Sometimes in their transit south tbey find their 
way into our ponds and creeks and get bothered and belated ; they 
chill very quick in a cold night. Their route south is outside of Nan- 
tucket Island." 

Caiie God Bay. 

80. Mr. David F. Loring, keeper of Highland light, at the northeastern- 
most point on Cape Cod, states that pogies appear in that vicinity from 
the last of April to the middle of May, making their appearance in large 
schools on the surface. After passing by the cape in the spring, they 
frequently throughout the summer make their appearance in Province- 
town Harbor, the bluefish chasing them. They are very seldom seen to 
school on the ebb tide, but as soon as it turns flood they are seen on top 
of the water. Mr. Loring states : " I have seen the surface of the water 
literally covered with schools on the flood tide, while on the ebb there 
is hardly a fish to be seen. I have seen them under water on the ebb 
tide, two or three fathoms down, in schools, but they move very slowly 
until the tide turns flood. Then they school up to the surface of the 
water and are quicker in their movements. I have seen them in the fall 
of the year when not schooling, but whether schooling or not they gen- 
erally play on the surface of the water, except on the ebb tide." They 
commence to leave the coast about the 1st of October, moving south by 



48 EEPORT OP COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

degrees. Daring tbe month of November, 1874, tbe small seining steam- 
ers belonging to an oil and guano company in Fall Eiver, Mass., wbich 
has a large factory in Boothbay, Me., having left tbe Maine fishing- 
grounds alter the pogies had left the coast, fell in x\ith large schools 
jast outside of Proviucetown Harbor and took 30,000 barrels of them in 
a short time. 

According to Mr. Heman S. Dill, light-keeper on Billingsgate Island, 
pogies appear in Barnstable Bay about May 10, not varying over four 
or five days from year to year. 

Vicinity of Gape Ann. 

81. At Marblehead, Mass., we are informed by Mr. Simeon Dodge, the 
fish appear about May 9, a larger body appearing in July; their course 
is northward, their appearance certain. Tbeir favorite locality is at the 
mouths of fresh-water streams, moving up the creeks with tbe flood and 
and down with the ebb. They take their departure in a body about the 
last of October. 

Capt, F. J. Babson, of Gloucester, Mass., states that the appearance 
of this fish for the past thirty years has been regular and certain. They 
first appear in Massachusetts Bay about the 15th of May, and are pres- 
ent in tbe greatest numbers a month later. When in deep water they 
are not affected perceptibly by the tide, but when near tbe shore run in 
and out of the rivers and creeks with the tide. They swim low during 
easterly winds, but in warm and pleasant weather play at tbe surface, 
They begin to leave the coast about October 1, and by the last of tbe 
month are all gone. 

Gulf of 31aine. 

83. According to Judson Tarr & (^o., they come on the coast of Maine 
about the 1st of June, though they are not plenty until June 20 ; they 
continue coming until July. They follow the shore coming and going, 
and their appearance is certain ; they have never been known to fail. 
They leave the coast about October 1, on the approach of cold weather. 

Mr. J. Washburne, jr., of Portland, Me., states that pogies appear in 
that vicinity June 10 or 15. They come in two schools; the first, which 
are small, usually come about ten days before tbe second school. They 
remain during the summer and work in shore on tbe flood tide and out 
on the ebb. They leave for the South about October 1 ; in 1874, some 
were taken November 4. 

Mr. G. B. Kenniston, of Boothbay, Me., who is largely engaged in the 
menhaden fisheries, thus gives the result of his personal observations: 
"Tbe pogies are first seen about May 20 in occasional schools. Tbe main 
body arrives about June 20, which, passing to the eastward, is followed 
by others continually for about thirty days longer. There is considera- 
ble difference in the size of tbe fish caught. At times, mixed sizes are 
taken at the same set. Usually those arriving at different periods differ 



HISTOEY OF THE AMERICAN - MENHADEN. 49 

in size, the larger may come sooner or later; nothing certain is known 
as regards this. After rounuing Cape Cod, some touch the coast in the 
vicinity of Gloucester, Mass., but by far the larger portion it appears 
keep off shore, and near it anywhere from Capo Elizabeth to Monhegan. 
The main body of these fish continue to pass toward the east till about 
the 20th of July, when that impetus seems to be checked, and for thirty 
or forty days their movements are seemingly local. Then they begin 
their return tc the west, and contiune to repass until in October. The 
last bodies are urgent in their westward course. Their appearance is 
regular, and they have never been known to fail. The temperature of 
the air affects them ; they will not ' show ' or come to the surface when 
cold north or east winds prevail." 

Board man and Atkins state that the latest date at which menhaden 
have been observed on the western coast of Maine, between Cape Eliza- 
beth and Pemaquid, is October 25, and the period of greatest abun- 
dance about the last of July or the first of August, although for several 
weeks preceding and foUowiug that date, there is little variation in their 
number. Since the publication of his report Mr. Atkins has observed 
small menhaden as late as December in the vicinity of Bucksport. 

Mr. Benjamin F. Brightman, of Eound Pond, Me., also largely inter- 
ested in the fisheries, states that the first fish make their aj^pearance 
about the 1st of June, though usually scattering. Seining begins about 
the 15th ; the fish are poor then and rather smaller than those taken in 
August and September, when the smacks go oif shore from five to thirty 
miles to get larger and fatter fish. Seining begins about the 15th of 
June, and continues until the 15th of October. They are most abun- 
dant and easily seen on a warm, sunshiny day. The fish start to go 
west about the middle of September, and continue going until the last 
of October. 

Mr. John Grant, keeper of Matinicus Rock light- station, writes that 
they arrive about the 1st of June, the larger body from the middle to the 
last of June, the last school being much the largest and fattest. There 
are commonly several schools at irregular intervals. A favorite play- 
ing-ground is between Seguin Island, and Matinicus Eock, and in the 
bays and mouths of rivers between those two points. The fish leave 
about the middle of October in a body. 

On the eastern side of Penobscot Bay near Brookliu, according to 
Messrs. J. C. Condon and E. A. Friend, pogies come in from the 10th to 
the 15th of June, and leave by degrees after the 1st of October. They 
are most abundant in June and July. 

In the same vicinity, according to Mr. Z. D. Norton, the first menhaden 
seen are scattering individuals that are caught in gill-nets and wears in 
May, often as early as the middle of the month. The schools do not 
appear until the middle of June, on an average. They leave in Septem- 
ber commonly. In Bluehill Bay they are sometimes known to stay as 
late as October. 
4 F 



50 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

Mr. William H. Sargent, of Castine, Me., has known them to come in 
as early as May 25, and has seen them in November. 

Eastward from this point the stay of the menhaden is materially 
shortened np. At Jonesport, according to Mr. George E. Allen, it is 
almost confined to the month of August, scattering ones being taken in 
July. In Passamaquoddy Bay and vicinity menhaden are now rarely 
seen. Formerly they were found in all these waters in August.* 

3lr. Maddoclis on the Maine scliools. 

83. Mr. Maddocks states : "Its appearance on the coast of Maine is 
from about June 1, to October 1. The date of coming rarely varies 
more than five days ; that of departure is sometimes delayed until 
October 15, if the weather continues mild and calm. It usually dis- 
appears from the surface during the continuance of cold northerly 
winds J and even in favorable weather alternately rises and sinks dur- 
ing the day, the morning and evening being the time of most general 
appearance. The first straggling comers are generally discovered on 
the ' outer grounds,' so called, some forty miles off shore. The numbers 
increase with the advance of the season, the fiish gathering in schools 
or bunches from the size of a diniug table to ten acres large, and fifty 
of these being frequently visible at once from the mast-head. In these 
bunches the fish extend from the surface two or three fathoms deep, 
more or less, as far at least as can be seen, in a compact mass, either 
lying perfectly still or moving slowly with their heads all pointed one 
way as if intently gazing upon an object before them."t And again: 
" It is certain that the disapparance of the menhaden from the Maine 
coast in the autumn is accomplished by a movement of vast numbers (not 
necessarily the whole or even the greater number) to the west and 
south along the shore. The withdrawal is nearly simultaneous, but in 
a body so immense that the vanguard reaches Cape Cod before the 
rear has left the Maine waters. Our fishermen follow the retreating 
army as far as Cape Cod and Sandy Hook, and make large captures." 

13. — Migrations. 
Migrations of fishes and their caiises. 

84. It was formerly believed that all seasonal migration was directed 
toward and from the equator, but zoologists of the i^resent day recog- 
nize another kind of migration quite as important although not usually 
so extended. At the approach of the hot season in subtropical climates 
the birds seek a cooler temperature, either by flying northward or by 
ascending the high mountains. In like manner the fishes of any region 
may find water of suitable warmth by moving north or south along 

* Goodale & Atkins, op. cit., p. 4. 

t The Menhadeu Fishery of Maine, p. 4. 



HISTOEY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 51 

the shores of the continent, or by changing to waters of less or greater 
depth. The former may be called equatorial, the latter bathic migration. 

Bathic migration is the most common. The cod family, the halibut, 
and flounders, the scuppaug, tautog, sea bass, and sculpins, are well known 
examples. The cod prefers a temperature of from 35° to 42° F. and 
this it secures in a temperate climate, such as that of Southern New 
England by remaining on the off-shore banks in 15 to 30 fathoms of 
water, coming near the shore in winter. On the coa,sts of Labrador, New- 
foundland, Nova Scotia and Eastern Maine they are near the shore in 
summer and in deep water in winter. In Norway the fish are caught 
to some extent in the fiords in the summer season, though more in winter. 
In summer they still remain on the offshore banks. The halibut moves 
up and down on the sides of the great oceanic banks and the continental 
slopes, with the seasonal changes of temperature. In summer they are 
abundant in the shallows of South Greenland, while in winter they are 
in deep water. On the coast of Massachusetts they come near the shores 
only in the dead of winter, though abundant in summer on the edges of 
the outside banks in 80 to 300 fathoms of water. The sand dabs {Hippo- 
glossoides dentatus) are abundant in July in water of 60 and 80 fathoms 
ten miles off Cape Ann ; in the middle of winter they swarm upon the 
sand flats in two or three fathoms depth. 

The Spanish mackerel, the bonito, and the tunnies are good examples 
of nomadic species. In summer they throng our northern watersj in 
winter they are under the tropics. 

Others, like the sea-herring, appear to migrate in two ways. Their 
movements are, approximately, both parallel with and vertical to the 
coast line ; that is to say, they secure changes of temperature both by 
leaving the upper strata of the ocean and by moving toward and from the 
equator. The researches of Boeck in Norway, show that the schools ap- 
proach the coast by gullies or submarine valleys from the oceanic depths. 
Such is doubtless the case on our own coast, in their earliest approaches, 
though having reached the shallows near the shore, the schools range 
along great stretches of coast line. Since fishes have no restrictions 
upon their movements except those of food and temperature, all active 
species must traverse areas of many hundreds of miles during the year. 

The tendency of all the researches made during the past few years 
has been to confirm the views advanced by Professor Baird in an un- 
published letter written in 1873 to the Hon. Hamilton Fish, Secretary 
of State. 

" The question in regard to the migration of fishes is one that has 
attracted the attention of both fishermen and naturalists for many years 
past, and a great deal of eloquence has been expended by Pennant and 
other writers, in their history of the movement of herring and other 
species. 

" For many years it was considered beyond question that the sea 
herring, having their homes in the northern seas, were in the habit of 



52 EEPOKT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

prosecuting extensive journeys, in the course of which they successively 
visited the shores of Europe and of America, penetrating into their 
bays and sounds, and returning afterwards to the i^oint from which 
they started ; the adults decimated by the predaceous fishes and their 
capture by man, but their numbers kept up bj' the progeny, the result 
of their spawning operations, for which purpose it was supposed their 
journeys were initiated. 

"In the same manner the shad and the fresh-water herring of the 
American coast were supposed to start in the late winter along the 
southern coast of the United States, in a huge column, the herring first, 
and afterward the shad, first entering tl'.e Saint John's River in Flor- 
ida, and while passing up the coast sending off detachments into all the 
principal rivers, and finally stopping in about the latitude of the mouth 
of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. 

" This theory is at present almost entirely abandoned, and there is 
reason to believe that after the herring and shad have spawned iu the 
rivers they proceed to sea, and spend the period until their next anad- 
romous movement in the immediate vicinity of the mouths of the rivers, 
where they are followed in due course of time by their young. This 
is illustrated by the fact that fish of nearly every prominent river show 
some peculiarities by which both the fish-dealer and the naturalist can 
distinguish them; the difference not being sufiBcient to constitute a 
.specific rank, but such as to mark them as local races. Numerous cap- 
tures, too, in gill-nets and otherwise, off the northern coast, during the 
period when they should be gathered together in the southern waters, 
prove that a portion at least remain. It is difBcult to imagine how a 
shad or a river herring, spawned in the Saint Lawrence River or any 
northern stream, could avoid entering a more southern river, if in its 
vicinity ; but if any fact has been well established of late years in the 
history of the fishes, it is that the anadromous fish, or such as run up 
the rivers from the sea to spawn, will return if possible to the river in 
which they first saw the light. So true is this, that where there may 
be two or three rivers entering the sea in close proximity, which have 
become destitute of shad or herring in consequence of long-continued 
obstructions, and the central one only has been restocked by artificial 
means, the fish, year by year, will enter that stream, while those adja- 
cent on either side will continue as barren of fish as before." 

The influence of ocean temperature on the movements of menhaden. 

85. The influence of ocean temperature on the menhaden is not at all 
well understood, and I can here record only crude generalizations founded 
upon very unsatisfactory data. I have before me three tables showing 
the variations of temperature, by monthly means, for Key West, Fla.; 
Jacksonville, Fla. ; Savannah, Ga. ; Charleston, S. C. ; Wilmington, jST. 
C.j Norfolk, Ya.; Baltimore, Md.; New York City; New London, Conn, j 
Wood's IJoll, Mass. ; Portland, Me. ; and Eastport, Me. Table I shows 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 53 

the monthly means of surface temperature; Table 11, of temperature 
at the bottom near the shore; and Table III, the average means of the 
surface and bottom temperatures. The observations were all made at 
3 p. m., and are continuous from March 1, 1876, to March 1, 1877. These 
are reproduced in Appendix F. There is, also, a table of the daily ob- 
servations of temperature at the surface at the same stations. A study 
of these tables, which, for convenience, were mapped out in curves upon 
section paper, aflbrds some interesting results. 

Minimuiii limits of temperature and the dates of appearance and disap- 
pearance of the schools. — The monthly mean of surface temperatures at 
Eastport is greatest in September, when it is 50<^.6, while the highest 
daily observation is 51^.5. The menhaden do not visit Eastport in mid- 
summer. Let us divide the monthly averages for May, at Portland, into 
quarterly periods. The average for May 10-23 is 47°. 1 ; for May 24-31 
is 51<^. The quarter-month averages for October are 53o.8, 50o.8, 47°. 9, 
480.8. 

The schools of menhaden arrive in Eastern Maine late in May and 
early in June, and depart, usually, before the middle of October. 

At Wood's Holl the quarter- month averages for May, as taken by the 
Signal Service observer, are 48^.2, 49°.6, 53°.l, and 57°.G, approximately, 
or the monthly average, 52o.3. These observations are made in the 
Great Harbor, at the railroad-wharf. Another series of observations, 
made by Captain Edwards, for the Light-House Board, in the Little Har- 
bor, are believed to indicate more nearly the temperature of the Vineyard 
Sound. These, however, are only for bottom. The difference between 
the monthly mean of bottom temperatures for May, at the two stations, 
is almost two degrees (1°.8), the figures being 51°. 5 for Great Harbor, 
for Little Harbor 53°.3. It does not seem assuming too much to place the 
quarter- month average for the first half of May at 50° and 5]°.4. For 
November the Grea.t Harbor quarter-month means are 51°, 51°, 47°.7, 
43°.3. 

The menhaden strike into Vineyard Sound early in May or late in 
April, and linger until November, and even December. 

At New Loudon the quarter-monthly averages for the last half of 
April and the first half of May are 49°, 48°.5, 52°.5, 54°.5 ; for late Oc- 
tober, 550.2, 540.9 ; for November, 53°.5, 51°.l, 48°.l, 46°.l. 

The fish come on the eastern coast of Connecticut late in April, and 
are frequently taken as late as the middle of November. The temperatures 
of New London suggest that there may be something in error in the Wood's 
Holl observations in so far as they are supposed to indicate the temper- 
ature of the ocean in its immediate vicinity. The periods of appearance 
and disappearance at Waquoit and Menerasha, in the Vineyard Sound, 
agree nearly with those of Eastern Connecticut. 

The temperature of the Chesapeake must be studied from the obser- 
vations made at Baltimore and Norfolk. At the latter place the April 
means are 52°, 56°.5, Gio.2, GQo ; the November means, 59°, 54o.6, oS'^.o, 



54 EEPOKT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

480.5 ; at the former for April, 45o.G, 50°, 54o.5, 55o.7 ; for November, 
540.2, 520.1, 50°, 470. At Norfolk the averages for the last half of 
March are 48° and 50°. 

The movements of the menhaden in other waters have not been very 
carefully observed, but we know that they enter the Potomac late in March, 
and early in April, and that they linger till the last part of November. 

In 1874 the young menhaden lingered in the Lower Potomac until the 
middle of December. In 1876 the average for December surface tem- 
perature at Norfolk was 300.8, for bottom temperature '30O.4. In 1874 
the surface average for December at Norfolk was 43°, or 6°.4 higher than 
in 1870, the year from which our tables of observations are made u]). The 
average for Norfolk surface temperature in November was, in 1870, 53o.4, 
in 1874, 55°.l or lo.7 higher. It is quite probable that in 1874 the water 
of the Lower Potomac did not become colder than 50° until December. 

At Wilmington the monthly means of bottom temperature in 1876 
and 1877 were for December, 43o.l, January, 43°, February, 48^.5 ; in 
1874 and 1875, December, 48o.l, January, 43o.8, February, 45o.5. De- 
cember, 1870, was unusually cold, the mean temperature of the air 
being 4Go.3, against 59^.1 for the same month in 1874. January and 
February of 1874 were relatively cold, their air temperature being 48^.1 
and 530.1, against 57^.1 and 52^.5 in 1870. The surface quarter-month 
averages for the last half of February, 1877, are 49o.i^ 50o.5 ; for the first 
half of March, 1876, 52^.6, 57° ; for late November and early December, 
1876, 570.1, 5306, 40O.0, 450.3. 

No observations have been made upon the movements of the menhaden 
at Wilmington. At Beaufort, 30 miles farther north, they appear to be 
absent during the winter. 

It is much to be regretted that there are no temperature observations 
from Cape Hatteras. The relations of this locality to the Gulf Stream 
are peculiar, and corresponding peculiarities in the temperatures no 
doubt exist. The hundred fathom curve is distant about 40 miles from 
the point of the cape, and the average summer limits of the Gulf Stream, 
as laid down upon the British Admiralty charts, extend nearly into this 
curve. The observations made at Wilmington, situated as it is in a 
bend of the coast, at least 100 miles from the summer limits of the Gulf 
Stream, and at the mouth of a river which rises 200 miles away in the 
elevated central portion of North Carolina, can hardly be taken as 
criteria of the temperatures of Cape Hatteras. This is still more unfor- 
tunate from the fact that tlie movements of the menhaden, bluefish, 
"sea-trout," and other warm-water species are very peculiar at this 
point. It will be strange if the monthly mean of water temperature for 
Cape Ilatteras in December, and perhaps January, does not prove to be 
more than 50-. 

Savannah is at least 120 miles from the Gulf Stream, and its means 
for December and January, 1876-1877, as well as those of Charleston, 
are below 50o. Charleston water appears to be uniformly warmest. In 



HISTOEY OF THE AMERICAN MENHiDEN. 55 

1874, December in Charleston averaged 48o.8 ; in 1875, January aver- 
aged 50°. 2. 

The movements of tbe menbadeu in this region have not been 
observed, but since in the north it is not more hardy than the shad, and 
since the shad do not venture into the Georgia and Carolina rivers in 
December, it is safe to predict that the habits of the menhaden are 
similar. 

Jacksonville, Fla., is the only point on the east coast from which there 
are observations showing a temperature uuformily above 51°, and here 
the menhaden remain throughout the winter. 

Maximum limits of temperature. — On the coast of Eastern Maine we are 
told that the menhaden schools keep passing to the eastward until about 
the middle of July, when their impetus is apparently checked and their 
movements for thirty or forty days seem to be local only. During this 
period the temperature at Portland ranges irom 00° to 70°, this being 
the height of mid-summer. The monthly means for July and August, 
1876, were GG°.7 and 63°.d. The same months at New London are 
placed at 73° and 73o.3; at l^orfolk, 84o.l and 78o.3. Wilmington, 
Charleston, and Savannah do not range much above Norfolk ; June, 
July, and August at Jacksonville average above 85°, and we have no 
satisfactory evidence that the menhaden are seen there in mid-summer. 
At Key West the lowest monthly mean is December, at GCo.4, in an 
unusually cold winter. 

Preferred range of temperature. — These facts appear to indicate that 
under ordinary circumstances the menhaden prefers a temperature of 
G0° to 70° Fahrenheit. When the rising temperature of spring has passed 
the limit of 50° to 51° the fish are certain to appear, and when the fall- 
ing temperature of autumn reaches that j)oint their departure is equally 
sure, though a few individuals may linger in waters not congenial to 
them. The opposite limit seems to be marked by the line of 80° or per- 
haps 750. An easterly or northerly wind, lowering temporarily the sur- 
face temperature, causes the schools to sink below the surface, as is shown 
in paragraph 95- The chill of night also drives them down. 

These conclusions are not to be regarded as final. The movements 
of the fish about Cape Ilatteras are very puzzling and need to be inter- 
preted by a series of careful temperature observations. 

It is a well-established fact that the summer of 1877 was not so warm 
as that of the preceding year. It is also known that the catch of men- 
haden in Maine for that year was much smaller than in 187C, when it 
was unusually large. There maj- be a connection between these circum- 
stances, though the observations of water temperatures at my disposal 
are not sufficient to warrant decided generalization. The means for the 
summer months of 187G were, at Eastport, 45o.5; at Portland, 57^.9 ; at 
Wood's HoU, 70^.4 ; at New Loudon, G80 ; at Norfolk, 78o.7. The corre- 
sponding means for 1877 were, at Eastport, 420.8; Portland, 57^.0; Wood's 
Holl, G70.7 ; New London, GGo.9 ; and Norfolk, 770.2. The summer of 



50 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

1877 was then colder than tha,t of 1876 by 2o.7 at Eastport; by O^.S at 
Portland ; by 2o.7 at Wood's Holl ; by l^.l at New London ; and by l^.S 
at Norfolk. July, 1877, was colder than July, 1876, at Eastport by 2o.8 ; 
at Portland by 2^,2; at Wood's Holl by 50 9 ; at New London by lo.2. 
August, 1877, was colder than August, 1870, at Eastport by 0^.3; at 
Portland by O^.O ; at Wood's Holl by 0o.9 ; at New London by 3o.l. 
September and October of 1877 were warmer than the corresponding 
months of 1870 at Portland, and this agrees with the fact that the catch 
of menhaden in Maine was entirely made in the fall months. 

General discussion as to the icinter lidbits of summer fishes. 

SO. The relations of the temperature of the water to the movements of 
the menhaden schools having been studied, a new question is at once sug- 
gested. When the schools disappear from our coast, driven by falling 
temperature, where do they go "? The answer must be in the form of a 
theory, for no one has seen them during their winter absence ; at least 
no one has been able to identify the New England and Middle States 
fishes after their departure in the autumn. It is evident that there are 
but three courses open to our coast fishes when it becomes necessary for 
them to leave inshore — 

(L) They may swim out to sea until they find a stratum of water corre- 
sponding in temperature to that frequented by them during their summer 
sojourn on our coast. 

(2.) They may swim southward until they find water of the required 
warmth. 

(3.) They may descend into the abyssal de])ths of the ocean, there to 
remain for a, season in partial or total torpidity. 

The last of these theories is the least plausible, from the fact that 
it necessitates the greatest change in habits. The susceptibility of the 
menhaden to slight changes of temperature has been i)ointed out. Hi- 
bernation in the oceanic depths involves a change to a temperature 10° 
to 25° colder than that preferred by them in summer, as well as other 
important changes in respect to specific gravity and pressure. 

The theory of Mhernation discussed u-ith special reference to the habits of 

the maclcerel. 

87. The hibernation theory is a favorite one with the fishermen of the 
British Provinces, and has recently received strong support from Pro- 
fessor Hind, in his treatise on the fisheries of North America. His argu- 
ments refer to the mackerel, although the scup, tautog, and herring are 
included by implication. He refers to the appearance of the mackerel 
" with scales on their eyes and blind," and suggests that the winter sleep 
of fishes is jirobabl}^ much more general than is usually supposed. He 
takes the position that there are only two alternatives possibly open to 
fishes which cannot live in cold water. They must migrate south or 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 57 

hibernate. His arguments naturally fall into two categories — those 
against migration and those in favor of hibernation. Those in favor of 
hibernation may be summed up as (1) the testimony of fishermen and 
travelers ; (2) the quoted opinions of theorizers ; (3) the alleged hiberna- 
tions of other fishes ; and (1) peculiarities in early and late fish. 

(1.) The statements of one M. Pleville le Peley, "an eye-witness," are 
quoted both from Lacepede and H. de la Blanchere. M. le Peley 
gravely states that he had observed about the coasts of Hudson's Bay 
"the mud at the bottom of the small clear hollows incrusted with ice 
round their coasts, entirely bristled over by the tails of mackerel im- 
bedded in it nearly three parts of their length,"* and again "affirms 
having seen in the middle of winter, in deep muddy bottoms, myriads 
of mackerel, packed close one against the other, with one-half of the 
body plunged in the mud, where they remained during the winter. As 
soon as spring came they aroused themselves from their torpor, and 
appeared always on the same day on the same coast at the surface of 
tlie sea, and repaired to favorable spots to spawn."t The absurdity of 
these statements renders it unnecessary to criticise them. The other 
testimony is less definite. A Newfoundland fisherman remembers to 
have heard his father say that forty years before "he had often seen 
mackerel in White Bay come on shore like squid, with scales on their 
eyes and blind, about Christmas."| And, again, a statement quoted from 
the Eev^ John Ambrose, that "mackerel have been brought up from the 
muddy botcoms of some of our outer coves by persons spearing for eels 
through the ice,"§ which statement is not supported by the personal evi- 
dence of Mr. Ambrose, being merely a hearsay story. And this is all. 

Professor Hind, in Part II of the same worky remarks confidently: 
" That the mackerel spends the winter months in a torpid condition near 
to the locality where the schools first show themselves on the coast 
has already been adverted to," and again refers to "the fact, already 
noticed, that it is taken in winter from muddy bottoms." I submit that 
no such fact has been established and that Professor Hind's general- 
izations are without foundation. There is much better evidence to prove 
that swallows hibernate in the mud of ponds, a theory which has had 
numerous advocates since the time of Gilbert White, of Selborne. 

(2.) Professor Hind first quotes from "La Peche et Les Poissons" of 
M. H. dela Blanchere. The statement, printed as it is in a single para- 
graph instead of two and not given in full, conveys the impression that 
M. de la Blanchere indorses the views of Pleville le Foley, already quoted. 
On the contrary, he states explicitly : " The question of the annual and 

* Hind, op. cit., Part II, p. 10, note. 

t Part I, p. 78. 

t Part I, p. 78. 

§ Observations on the Fishing Grounds and Fish of St. Margaret's Bay, N. S., by Rev. 
John Ambrose. <Proceedings and Transactions of the Nova Scotian Institute of Nat- 
ural Sciences, 1866-67, quoted by Hind, Oj}. cit., Part I, p. 79. 

II P. 10. 



58 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

regular appearance and disappearance of this fish is still unsolved." 
He then proceeds to contrast with M. le Peley's views those of Duhamel 
de Mouceau, Anderson and others, who represented that the mackerel 
pass the winter in the northern seas, and in spring, beginning their 
migrations, pass southward visiting first Iceland, then Jutland, then 
Scotland, and Ireland, and the coasts of Continental Europe, in autumn 
assembling together for a return to the i)olar regions. Then he quotes 
Pleville le Peley, and remarks : " This theory associates the mackerel 
with many other sedentary fishes which pass the winter at the bottom 
of the sea, stupefied by the cold into a kind of lethargy, and would serve 
to explain why, in October, young mackerel of 10 and 15 millimeters are 
taken, why in winter others of larger size are taken, not with a line, 
but with nets, which entangle those which had not already buried them- 
selves in the mud or the sand."* 

Another quotation is madet from Shaw's " General Zoology, or Sys- 
tematic Natural Ilistory," published in 1803. Professor Hind says that 
"the four disputed points in relation to the natural history of this fish 
are there asserted, namely, its local habits, its torpidity during hiberna- 
tion, the film over the eye, and the fact of its being i)artly imbedded iu 
the soft mud or sand during its winter sleep." 

I admit that Shaw asserts the presence of a film over the eye. He 
does not, however, even give the theory of hibernation his personal in- 
dorsement, but remarking that the long migration of the mackerel and 
herring seems at present to be called in question, continues, " It is 
thought more probable that the shoals which appear in such abundance 
round the more temperate European coasts, in reality reside during the 
winter at no very great distance, immersing themselves in the soft bot- 
tom, and remaining in a state of torpidity, from which they are 
awakened by the warmth of the returning spring, and gradually recover 
their former activity." 

Even if Shaw could fairly be quoted as a supj)orter of this theory, 
his opinion is of little value. He was not a naturalist, but a book- 
maker, and his compilations are acknowledged to be inaccurate, f 

The opinions of Dr. Bernard Gilpin and the Eev. John Ambrose, 
two excellent Nova Scotian observers, are quoted, § though with no appar- 
ent reason, for the latter remarks onlj' that " it is the opinion of some" 
that the third run of mackerel, which takes place at St. Margaret's Bay 
about the first of August, are not returning from the Gulf of Saint Law- 
rence, but from sea, and " it may be that a portion of the immense 
schools passing eastwardly in the spring strike ofl' to some favorite bank 

" Nouveiiu Dictionnaire Geudral des Peches, &c., i^ar H. de la Blanchere. Paris, 1868, 
p. 183, article Maqucrcau. 

t Hiud, op. cH., Part 11, p. 10. 

t Sei! a criticism upou Shaw's General Zoology iu Gill's Arrangement of the Fami- 
lies of Fishes, &c.,, 1872, pp. 40, 41. 

^ Part I, p. 79. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 59 

outside to deposit the spawn. Or there may be a sort that never go as 
far east or west as the others, but winter along our shores," &c.; while 
Dr. Gilpin expressly remarks that though the asserted torpidity and 
blindness favor the idea of hibernation, he does not think that we have 
yet sufficient proof to assert them as facts. 

The authorities quoted in sui)port of the hibernation theory do not 
in fact support it, and the testimony cited by Professor Hind is merely 
tradition and popular opinion, some obtained directly, the remainder at 
second-hand. 

(3.) Still another set of arguments is based upon the supposed hibernat- 
ing Jiabits of other species of fishes. Professor Hind remarks: "In seas 
which are not ice-encumbered the winter torpidity (of the mackerel) may 
be of very short duration; in ice-encumbered seas it may extend over 
several mouths. In this particular the mackerel resembles the sturgeon 
of the Caspian Sea, whose torpidity during Winter is well known, and 
this winter sleep is not confined to these fish, but is probably much more 
general than is usually supposed." * 

Here we have a definite statement. The mackerel hibernate, and the 
winter sleep is not confined to the mackerel. 

The only hibernation which is definitely known to occur among fishes 
takes place in the fresh- water lakes and streams of cold regions. The 
fish are driven by cold into the deeper waters, and there remain in a 
state of torpor proportionate in degree to the amount of cold which they 
experience. They may even be frozen up in the midst of a mass of ice 
and recover their vitality when the ice is melted, t 

In warm regions an analogous phenomenon takes place which has 
been called t^estivation. When the lakes and streams are dried up by 
the heat the fish seek refuge in the deepest pools, and when these tno 
are dry they bury themselves in the mud at the bottom and remain 
torpid until the rainy season refills the reservoirs and revives them. 

Fishes in the extreme north doubtless undergo similar experiences, 
though I am not aware that any record of such a phenomenon has ever 
been published. 

Hibernation and aestivation do not appear to be in any case voluntary 
a.cts. The fish do not become torpid of their own volition. They avoid 
it as long as they can, and only succumb when they are deprived of 
means of escape. They never become torpid when there are greater 
depths to which they can retreat. | 

* Part II, p. 11. 

tMr.lMilner had a mud-minnow {Umbra limi) which was frozen in solid ice in the 
middle of an aquarium globe three or four times, and each time recovered its vitality 
upon thawing out. 

i "A curious phenomenon in Indian fresh waters, and one which has never been sat- 
isfactorily explained, is the sudden appearance of healthy adult lishes after a heavy 
fall of rain, and in localities which for months previously had beeu dry. When pieces 
of water inhabited by fish yeai'ly dry up, what becomes of them ? On January 18, 1869, 
when examining this question, I was taken to a tank of j)erhaps an acre in extent, but 



60 EFFORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

(4.) Professor Hind lays much stress upon the presence of a "filni" over 
the eyes of the spring and autumn mackerel and upon their alleged capt- 
ure in winter in the waters of the Dominion, and also quotes arguments 
for hibernation based upon the resemblance of the mackerel to the 
batrachians (which are known to be capable of hibernation) in color, 
and upon its resemblance to embryonic forms of other fishes which is 
supposed to " prove him low in the scale of intelligence."* To the 
latter it is needless to refer. The so-called "film" on the eye is not 
peculiar to the mackerel. Many fishes, such as the shad, the ale- 
wife, the menhaden, the bluefish, the mullet, the lake whitefish, and 
various cypriuoid fishes have a thick, rough membrane covering the 
anterior and posterior angles of the orbits narrowing the opening to 
the form of an ellipse with a vertical major axis. This possibly be- 
comes somewhat more opaque in seasons of decreased activity. It 

which was theu almost diy, having only about four inches of water in its center, while 
its circumference was sufficiently dried to walk upon. The soil was a thick and con- 
sistent bluish clay, from which, and not nearer than thirty paces to the water, five live 
fish were extracted from at least two feet below the surfixce of the mud. They con- 
sisted of two of Ophlocephalus j^unctatus and three of the Ehijnchohdella aculeata. All 
were very lively and not in the slightest degree torpid. They were covered over with 
a thick adherent slime. Among the specimens of fish in the Calcutta museum is one 
of the Am2)hi2)iioiis cucJiia, which was dug up some feet below the surface of the mud 
when sinking the foundation for a bridge. If when the water failed fish invariu.bly 
died, the tank would be depopulated the succeeding year unless a fresh supply was 
obtained from some other source, while the distance from other pieces of water at which 
they reappear excludes, in many instances, the possibility of migration, which must 
always, to a certain extent, be regulated by distance, time, and other local circum- 
stances. Some species, especially "compound breathers," are unable to live in liquid 
mud, which they cannot employ for purposes of aquatic respiration. 

" The practical question is, whether, when food and water fail, some fish do not ajsti- 
vato until the return of a more favorable season. Natives of India assert that they 
do thus become torpid in the mud. As the water in tanks becomes low, the fishes con- 
gregate together in holes and places in which some etill remains, where they nuxy be 
frequently seen in numbers huddled, together with only sufficient water to cover their 
dorsal fins. 

" If disturbed they dive down into the thick mud, so that a net is often found in- 
effectual to take them. The plan employed to capture them is for the fisherman to 
leave the net in the water, and to walk about in the surrounding thick mud; in time 
they come to the surface to breathe, and fall an easy prey. 

" As the water gradually evajiorates, the fishes become more and more sluggish, and 
finally there is every reason to believe that some at least bury themselves in the soft 
mud, and in a state of torpidity await the return of the yearly rains. In Ceylon, Mr. 
Whiting, the chief officer of the western province, informed Sir Sfmercon Tonnent that 
he ):ad accidentally been twice present when the villagers had been engaged in dig- 
ging up fish. The ground was firm and hard, and " as the men fiuug out lumps of it 
with a spado, they f. 11 to pieces, disclosing fish from 9 to 12 inches long, which were 
full-grown and healthy, and jumped on the bank when exposed to light. Many other 
animals which possess a higher vitality than fish ajstivate during the hot months, as 
Batrachians, the Emys, the Lcpidosiren annectens, and some of the crocodiles. Mollusks 
and land-snails are commonly found in this state during the hot and dry months. 
(Day's Fresh- water Fish of India, p. 28.) 

* Part I, p. 79. 



HISTOEY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 61 

never bas been observed to cover the whole eye. Until the fact has 
been established that " a skin forms over the eye in winter '' it is quite 
unnecessary to propose the theory that such a skin " is probably de- 
signed to protect that organ from the attacks of the numerous parasiti- 
cal crustaceans and leeches which infest the external iiortions of the 
bodies of fishes, and are also found internally, as in the gills of cod- 
fish"* 

Criticism of the argument based upon the presence of maclcerel in northern 
waters late in the season. 

A number of instances are cited to prove that the mackerel schools 
remain on the coast of the Dominion throughout the winter season. If 
this can be well established it is a very strong argument in favor of hi- 
beruatiou. Let us analyze the testimony. 

Dr. Gilpin is quoted to the effect that during some seasons they 
linger on the Nova Scotian coast until December, and allusion is made 
to a mackerel obtained by him at Halifax, October 27, 1875. t 

Mr. John Rice remembers that his father used often to speak of mack- 
erel "coming on shore like squid with scales on their eyes and blind 
about Christmas," about 40 years ago.f 

Mr. Jabez Tilley states that they have been taken in November in 
Trinity Bay. 

Professor Hind also states that they are to be found on the whole 
coast from Quirpon to Cape Spear during November and December. 
He gives no authority for this statement, and it is to be inferred that it 
is founded upon personal observation. 

Then there is the vague statement of Mr. Ambrose, already quoted, 
that mackerel have been speared on muddy bottoms under the ice. 

Now this testimony does not, by any means, tend to prove that the 
mackerel remain near the coast in winter. 

In the first place there is no satisfactory proof of their occurrence 
later than October 25, since that is the only evidence fortified by a 
memorandum of date, and the memories of fishermen are not more cer- 
tain than those of other men. 

In the second place it is not impossible that mackerel linger in these 
waters until November or even December in the case of a very warm 
autumn. The temperature necessary for the menhaden cannot be many 
degrees below 50°, while the mackerel appears to endure a temperature 
of 41° or less. Menhaden linger in Maine waters till November and in 
Massachusetts Bay and the Vineyard Sound till December. 

Finally, the undoubted capture of many individuals in winter on the 
coast of Newfoundland would by no means prove that the great schools 
were there throughout the season. Disabled, blind, or diseased individ- 

* Sincl, op. cit., Part II, p. 11. 
t Part I, p. 79. 
X Part I, p. 78. 



62 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

uals wonkl naturally be unable to accompany tbe departing schools. 
Such fish would naturally grovel on the bottom iu a helpless state and 
might easily become impaled on the eel-sjiears, or might be thrown on 
shore by the waves, as the Newfoundland fishermen relate. Even 
healthj' fishes might occasionally be accidentally detained. Mr. Peter 
Sinclair a well-known fisherman of Gloucester, stated to Professor 
Baird that some years ago a school of mackerel were detained all win- 
ter in a small river in Nova Scotia, and were speared out of the mud. 
This is doubtless hearsay testimony and is given for what it is worth. 
I do not doubt that there have been individual cases of this kind, but I 
maintain that no generalization should be founded upon them. 

The theory of extended migration discussed icith reference to the habits of 

the macJcerel. 

88. The preceding paragraph is devoted to the refutation of the idea 
that sea-fish hibernate. This is regarded as the least probable of the 
three hypotheses stated in paragraph 85. In paragraph 84 it is stated 
that the sea-herring and many other fishes have two kinds of migra- 
tions : one bathic, or from and toward the surface ; the other littoral, or 
coastwise. Now, iu some species the former is most extended ; in oth- 
ers, the latter. The auadromous species very probably strike directly 
out to sea without coasting to any great degree, while others, of which 
the mackerel is a fair type, undoubtedly make extensive coastwise mi- 
grations, though their bathic migrations may, without any inconsist- 
ency, be quite as great as those of the species which range less. 

Upon this point I cannot do better than to quote from a manuscript 
letter from Professor Baird to the Hon. Hamilton Fish, Secretary of 
State, dated July 21, 1873. Having expressed the views concerning the 
migration of the herring and shad already quoted in paragraph 84, he 
continues : 

*' The fish of the mackerel family form a marked exception to this rule. 
While the herring and shad generally swim low in the water, their pres- 
ence beiug seldom indicated at the surface, the mackerel swim near the 
surface sometimes far out to sea, and their movements can be readily 
followed. The North American species consist of fish which as cer- 
tainly, for the most part at least, have a migration along our coast 
northward iu spring and south in autumn, as that of the ordinary pleas- 
ure-seekers, and their habit of schooling on the surface of the water ena- 
bles us to determine this fact with great precision. * * * Whatever 
may be the theories of others on the subject, the American mackerel- 
fisher knows perfectly well that in the spring he will find the schools of 
mackerel off Cape Henry, and that he can follow them northward day 
by day as they move in countless myriads on to the coast of Maine and 
Nova Scotia." , 

It is difficult to estimate to what extent the advocates of the hiber- 
nation theory have been influenced by patriotic motives in their efforts 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 63^ 

to prove that the mackerel remain in the waters of the Dominion of 
Canada throughout the entire year. It is certain that all recent treatises 
on ichthyology by Canadian writers have appeared in the form of cam- 
paign documents apparently intended to influence the decisions of diplo- 
matic commissions. 

I am by no means prepared to maintain that mackerel do not pass the 
winter in the American domain of Her Imperial M.njesty. It seems 
important, however, that the subject of the migration of fishes should 
be restored to its proper position as a question of abstract scientific im- 
portance. Let us glance at the arguments of Mr. Whitcher and Pro- 
fessor Hind against what the former is pleased to style the "American 
theory." 

In the report of the Minister of Marine and Fisheries for the year end- 
ing the 30th of June, 1871, Mr. W. F. Whitcher, Commissioner of Fish- 
eries, published a paper entitled "American theory regarding the mi- 
gration of the mackered refuted".* 

Mr. Whitcher opens his letter by claiming that the theory of north 
and south migration was invented solely in support of a claim advanced 
by citizens of the United States to participate in the Canadian inshore 
fisheries. " This ingenious but traditional theory of annual migration 
having gained local credence among some of the Nova Scotian fishermen 
engaged in United States fishing-vessels, has been sagaciously indorsed 
and circulated by American authors." He also refers to evidence " sup- 
posed to have been procured among the fishing population of the JS'ew 
England States." 

I need only say that these claims are unjust, and that the theory of 
the annual north and south migration of the mackerel is time-honored, 
and was held conscientiously by ichthyologists of the United States and 
the provinces long before the question of fishery treaties assnmed its 
present aspect. It is manifestly unfair to state that, while the theories 
which prevailed respecting the habits of herring and mackerel were 
formerly similar, that " in the former case it is probable that traditionary 
and imperfect information formed the basis of error, while in the latter 
instance it is most probably founded on misinformation dictated by sec- 
tional interests." Mr. Whitcher's own paper upon migration is the only 
one of American origin in which I have seen scientific method sacrificed 
to partisan spirit. 

Having read Mr. Whitcher's introduction, one might readily predict 
what sort of an argument he will wrench out of the statements of " such 
disinterested authorities as may be readily quoted." First he gives 
extracts from Mitchell and the Edinburgh Encyclopaedia regarding the 
habits of the herring. Granting all that is claimed about the herring, 
without reference to the liability of these authorities, what do we find? 
Merely a begging of the question. The habits of the herring and the 
mackerel are not known to be the same. In many particulars they are 

* Pages 186-189. 



G4 EEPOET OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

diametrically different, for the former loves cold water, the latter warm 
water. 

Various provincial writers are now quoted ; Mr. Perley, who says 
that " naturalists now tell us " and " it is now considered settled " that 
the mackerel is not migratory, but draws off into deep water at the 
approach of winter, and Mr. Knight and Mr. Fortin, though the reason 
for these quotations is not apparent, since no reference to the winter 
habits of the fish can be found therein. He does not refer to the writ- 
ings of Mr. Ambrose and Mr. Johnson, Canadian writers, who advocate 
the migratory theory. 

Yarrell and Couch are next quoted, though neither of them has ven- 
tured to give a decided opinion. 

Finally, we have a paragraph compiled from five French encyclope- 
dias, good and bad, no means being afforded of distinguishing the opin- 
ions of Cuvier from those of Chenu's literary staff. 

Mr. Whitcher's conclusion is this : that " it is clearly neither necessary 
nor accurate that mackerel should perform the migrations ascribed to 
them by American writers." 

The migrations of the mackerel are neither proved nor disproved by 
special pleadings of this description. The spirit of Professor Hind's 
writings is very different. He writes from the stand-point of an inves- 
tigator, and his book is an important contribution to our knowledge of 
the habits of fishes in relation to temperature and currents. I feel 
obliged, however, to call attention to a very serious flaw in his chief 
argument against the annual migration of the mackerel. 

In the chai)ter on the " Eelation of the Supposed Migratory Move- 
ments of Mackerel to Isothermal Lines,"* it is claimed that a migration 
to the north in the spring " presupposes the movements of bodies of the 
same great schools of mackerel which are alleged to pass Massachusetts 
Bay from the waters of the coasts of Virginia and New Jersey, not only 
through from ten to twelve degrees of latitude, but it assumes that they 
are able to cross in the early summer, and frequently before spawning, 
numerous isothermal lines in descending order." 

He then refers to the article upon the Gulf Stream in Petermann's 
"Mittheilungeu " for 1870, in which the marine isothermals for the differ- 
ent months are shown by means of a chart. A table is given showing the 
isothermals for July. That of G8° would touch the coast at Delaware 
Bay, that of C3o.5 at Long Island, that of 59° at Boston, that of 540.5 
at Cape Sable, Nova Scotia, that of 50° at Cape Eace, and that of 45o.5 
at the Straits of Belle Isle. 

From this he concludes that a " a school of fish, moving rapidly from 
Delaware Bay to the Straits of Belle Isle, would pass in July from a 
mean temperature of C8° to a mean temperature of 45°, a difference of 
more than 22° Fahrenheit. 

Tliis theory would be very satisfactory if it could be admitted that the 

*HLnd, op. ci(., part ii, pp. 15-17. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 65 

isothermals for July indicate the actual temperature of the sea from clay 
to day. la reality the marine isothermals are constantly varying, and, 
in this respect are different from those printed upon a chart. A glance 
at the tables in Appendix F, and the conclusions deduced from them in 
regard to the menhaden (paragraph 85), will show that schools of fish 
do not find it necessary to force their way through walls of sea tempera- 
ture, but that their movements from south to north are exactly corre- 
lated with the seasonal rise of temperature. As soon as the water at 
a given point reaches the necessary temperature, which for the mackerel 
on our own coast appears to be as much as 45°, the fish make their 
appearance, and with the advance of the season they appear farther and 
farther to the north. Mackerel do not appear on the coast of Maine un- 
til the water is as warm as it was off Cape Hatteras at the time of their 
first arrival. This is the case whether we suppose their general move- 
ment to be parallel with or vertical to the coast line. 

1 have entered the discussion of this question not with any idea of at- 
tempting to prove that mackerel migrate south from the Gulf of St. 
Lawrence, but to show that a comparatively rapid northward movement 
in May and June does not necessitate a "sudden plunging from high to 
low zones of temperature." 

Arguments against extended migrations of menhaden. 

89. There is no satisfactory evidence that the menhaden pursue ex- 
tended migrations north and south. The same evidence which tends to 
show that the shad, salmon, and alewife do not follow this course will 
will apply, with modifications, to the menhaden. 

The menhaden schools at different points along the coast appear to 
have individual peculiarities, corresponding to those of the shad in the 
different rivers. A Maine menhaden may easily be distinguished from 
a Long Island menhaden, a Chesapeake or a Florida one, by certain in- 
describable characters, easy to perceive but difficult to define. The 
presence of the crustacean parasite in the mouths of southern menhaden, 
and its constant absence from those of the north is a very strong argu- 
ment in favor of local limitation in the range of menhaden schools. 

That the same schools of menhaden return year after year to the 
same feeding grounds is rendered very probable by the statements of 
Mr. Miles in paragraph 72. 

The schools in the southern waters do not receive any apparent incre- 
ment at the time of desertion of the north coast, nor are the southern 
waters deserted at the time of abundance in the north. There is, how- 
ever, a limited north and south migration. The Maine schools on their 
departure in the fall appear to follow the southward trend of the coast 
until they strike the hook of Cape Cod, where they are detained for some 
days ; they then round the cape and are again detained by the hook of 
Montauk Point. They first strike the shore at Point Judith and are 
5 F 



G6 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH A^D FISHERIES. 

turned over into Peconic Bay by the line of islands stretching across the 
eastern end of Long Island Sound. 

In this same way the Chesapeake schools are said to be detained for 
some days by the projection of Cnpe Henry. 

The hypothesis of oceanic sojourn of the menhaden. 

90. The questions of hibernation and extended migration having been 
considered, it only remains to discuss the third alternative, that of the 
possibility of sojourn in the warm strata of the open ocean. 

In plate XII is given diagram sections of the North Atlantic Ocean 
between New York and Bermuda, showing the soundings and isothermal 
lines obtained in Her Majesty's ship "Challenger", April 24 to May 8, 
1873. The vertical scale is necessarily enormously exaggerated, but the 
diagram shows the presence of strata under the Gulf Stream, and be- 
tween it and the American coast, the temperature of which exactly meets 
the requirements of the menhaden. At a depth of 50 to 100 fathoms 
there is a shoreward extension of the warm stratum of 50° to 55° which 
extends inward one hundred and twenty miles. There are no means of 
determining the corresponding isothermal lines on the coast of North 
Carolina, but an extension of much less degree would approach very near 
the shore in that region. The diagram represents the condition of the 
sea temperature near New York at the very period when the menhaden 
are approaching the coast in April, and a similar relation not improbably 
exists in November, at the time of their departure. The schools of fish 
swimming out to sea when the shore waters become too cold for them, and 
driven belowthe surface by the winds of November, would naturally strike 
these temperate strata, and being kept from descending deeper by the 
uniform coldness of the waters below, as well as by the increasing pres- 
sure, and their efforts to approach the shores beiugalso opposed by a tem- 
perature barrier, they would remain in the temperate strata until i\fQ'^^ 
were enabled by the warmth of spring to regain their feeding grounds 
near the shores. 

No authorities can be quoted in support of this hypothesis, but, in the 
case of the menhaden at least, it appears to explain more of the difficult 
questions in relation to periodical movements than that of hibernation 
or that of extended migration. 

(1.) It presupposes less sudden changes of temperature than that of 
hibernation. It has been shown that hibernation of fishes is never vol- 
untary, but is a state of torpidity induced like that of estivation by a 
change of temperature and surroundings which they have no power to 
avoid. Before entering upon hibernation or aestivation fishes retreat 
to the deepest water, and only become completely torpid when they are fol- 
lowed thither by the changed conditions of existence. In the fresh 
waters of temperate regions fishi'S do not become entirely torpid in cold 
weather, but are sufficiently active to be taken with hooks from under the 
ice. Tbis is also the case in very deep waters in subpolar regions. The 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. G7 

kiilleraglitz or American tnrbot {Reinhardtnis Mppoglossokles) is taken 
with hooks, in the dead of winter, under the floe ice of North Greenland 
at a depth of 300 fathoms; in South Greenland, on the oceanic banks, at 
CO and 80 fa: horns; and at Fortune Bay, Newfoundland, it is caj^tured in 
the shore herring-seines at the same season. 

So long as the menhaden can avoid the extremes of temperature which 
they so carefully avoid iu the summer by seeking congenial warmth 
in the ocean strata under the Gulf Stream, need we suppose that they 
will plunge into the colder strata below ? 

(2.) It involves less radical changes than hibernation in the habits of 
the fishes. Some fishes, like the mud-minnow ( Cm&r«?im«) of the Eastern 
United States, are peculiarly adapted for life in the mud ; others, such 
as the " compound breathers " {Lahyrinthici) of India, are said to respire 
with ease with their heads covered by liquid mud. Such fishes, how- 
ever, are totally different in organization from the free-swimming spe- 
cies of the open seas. All free swimmers are especially heedful to avoid 
contact with the bottom. This is especially so in the case of the herring- 
family, of which the menhaden is a member. They are i^rovided usually 
with deciduous scales, and never suffer themselves to come in contact 
with the bottom. If one of the herring or mackerel tribe is placed iu 
an aquarium, it will be noticed that it keeps itself always free from the 
bottom. Other fishes in the same tank, such as the sea-bass, tautog, or 
king-fish, will be seen to rest on the bottom, and even to take refuge 
under the stones. 

It is improbable that mackerel ever voluntarily sink into the mud of 
the ocean bottom ; still more so in the case of the menhaden. 

(3.) It accounts better than the other theories for the early appear- 
ance of the fish in the spring. 

Admitting the possibility of a winter's sojourn in the mud, we are 
met by a diiBculty when we try to account for the prompt appearance 
of the fishes in the spring. The deeper strata of the ocean are now 
known to preserve throughout the year the uniform temperature of 22° 
to 40°. The fish, once mummified in the depths of the ocean, would 
remain so forever, unless they possess powers unknown to exist in other 
animals. 

On the other hand, if we suppose the fish to be swimming in the strata 
of mid-ocean, we know that they are in just the position to be suscepti- 
ble to all the daily variations of temperature. Following, with the 
advance of the season, the inward curving of the Gulf Stream, the warm 
strata below it gradually approach the shore. The schools of fish are 
thus enabled gradually to draw nearer to the coast line, and when the 
strata of 50° to 55° in temj)erature touch the coast the menhaden are at 
hand. 

(4.) It explains, as well as the hibernation theory and better than the 
migration theory, the peculiarity of the schools at different localities 
along the coast. This was discussed in paragraph 88. 



68 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

(5.) It explains better than the other theories the appearance of the 
fish at the time of their arrival in the spring. 

The menhaden appear to be bottom feeders. If they migrated coast- 
wise to the south, they would there find feeding-grounds; if they sank 
to the bottom, they would there find food if they had sufficient vitality 
to resurrect themselves in the spring; if they passed the winter in the 
mid-ocean strata, they could obtain no food and would naturally become 
emaciated, the accumulated fat of the preceding summer being absorbed. 

Riiribaud's classification criticised and a neic one proposed. 

91. Rimbaud's classification, which is a modification of one recognized 
in the markets of South France, is very suggestive, but it does not 
appear to me to be entirely applicable to the fishes of our coast, at least 
not in the way in which it has usually been adopted. 

Rimbaud makes four divisions, viz : 

I. Wandering fishes {Foisson nomade). 

II. White fishes {Foisson hlanc). 

III. Bottom fishes {Foisson de roche or Foisson de fond). 

IV. Alien or outside fishes {Foisson forain). 

The distinction between Classes I and IV does not appear to be very 
clearly marked. In the Western Atlantic, some of the fishes making up 
Class IV belong to each of the other classes. 

A more natural classification would be in three divisions, which might 
readily be correlated with the three kinds of migration mentioned in 
the preceding paragraph. 

The first group would include the wandering fishes, the Foisson 
nomade of Rimbaud, whose migrations are entirely oceanic and con- 
fined to the surface zones. The second group would include the bottom 
fishes of restricted range, the Foisson de fond of Rimbaud, which move 
to and from the shore or the shallows, and which do not range. The 
third group would include the middle classes, those which take advan- 
tage of both methods of migration, and corresponds approximately 
to Rimbaud's second division. " White fishes" seems hardlj^ an appropri- 
ate name: "coast fishes" would perhaps be more expressive. 

Colonel Lyman, in his report "On the Limits of Artificial Culture, and 
the Possibfe Exhaustion of Sea-fisheries"* (p. G7), speaks of the first 
class as " the wandering or schooling fishes of the high seas." The term 
"schooling" is liable to mislead, for the "white fishes" also school. 
Among the wandering fishes ho mentions only " the herring {Clupea 
elongata), mackerel {Scomber vernalis), menhaden {Alosa menhaden), cod 
{Gadus morrhua),''^ &c. The cod and herring most certainly are " white 
fishes," and the menhaden and mackerel are certainly not to be ranked 
with " those which appear on the coast only when ' migrating,' and then 
in vast but uncertain troops" (p. Go). 

* Report of the Commissioners of Fisheries (of Massachusetts) for the year eudiug 
January 1, 1870, pp. 58-G7. 



HISTORY OF THE AMEEICAN MENHADEN. 69 

A provisional classification, by habits, of the fishes of our eastern coast 
might stand somewhat as follows : 

I. Wandering or surface fishes. — These remain in our waters only for a 
short time, their movements being capricious or accidentally directed 
by the ocean currents, or else in search of food. They do not spawn on 
our coast, and their young are never seen in our waters. 

The best-known examples are the sword-fish {Xipliias {jladiiis), the 
spear-fish {Tetrapturus albidus), the bouito [Pelamys sarda), the tunny 
[Orcynus thynnus), the dwarf tunny [Orcynus alliteratus), the ceroes and 
Spanish mackerel {CyMum maculatian, C. caballa, and C. regale), the rud- 
der-fishes [Seriola sonata^ Naucrates ductor, and Palinurichthys ijerci- 
formis), the dolphins {Cori/phccjia, two or three species), the remoras 
{Echeneididcc), the barracuda {Sphyrccna horealis), the lady-fish {Albttla 
vulpcs), the tarpum {Megalops thrissoides), the oceanic sharks, such as 
Galeocerdo tlgrinus, and the numerous waifs from the West Indian fauna. 

Of these only the sword-fish, bonito, and the ceroes and Spanish mack- 
erel are of economic importance at present. 

II. Local or bottom fishes. — These remain in our waters throughout the 
year, their movements being chiefly to and from the shores, though many 
of the species move for long distances up and down the coast. They 
prefer a somewhat uniform temperature, which they secure by going into 
the shallows in summer and deeps in winter in the northern districts of 
their distribution, while in their southern districts of distribution these 
movements are reversed. They spawn on our coast, usually in shallow 
water and during their shoreward sojourn. 

The princii)al representativ^es of this group are the goose-fish [Lophius 
piscatorius), the flounders and flat fishes, the halibut {Hippoglossus vul- 
garis), of whose spawning habits little, however, is known, the lump-fish 
{Gycioplerus lumpus), and the two species of Liparis, the cod [Gadus 
morrhua), haddock {Melanogranimus wglefinus), pollock {Pollachius car- 
bonarius), and the hakes {Phycis chuss and P. Americanus), the gurnards 
and sculpins {Prionotus, sp. and Cottus, sp.), the rose-fishes {Sebastes, sp.), 
the tautog {Tautoga onitis), and the chogset {Ctenolahrus chogset), the 
skates, the rays, and the ground-sharks. 

III. The coast or ranging fishes. — These are in our coast waters for a 
portion of the year, and when absent from them are supposed to retreat 
to the depths of the ocean. "When near the shores their movements are 
a combination of those of the two previous classes, and they wander 
widely up and down the coast. They spawn upon our continental slope, 
some entering the rivers, some upon the inshore shallows, and some 
upon the off shore shoals, their young coming to the shores with the par- 
ents. They all are summer visitors in the northern districts of their 
distribution, though some, like the herring, only appear in JSfew Eng- 
land in the winter. 

The best known examples of this group are, among the river-spawn- 
ing or anadromous species, the salmon {Salmo salar), the shad {Alosa sap- 



70 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

idissima), the alewife {Pomolobus pseudoharengus)^ the inattowacca {Porno- 
lohus mediocris), and perhaps the striped bass {Boccus Uneatns) and the 
smelt {Osmerus mordax)', among the shore-spawning species, in the 
north, the capelin [Mallotus villosus), the launce [Ammodytes lanceolatus), 
and the herring {Cht^ea harengus) ; in the south, the scuppaug {Stenoto- 
mus argyrops), sheepshead (Archosargus prohatocepJialus), the sea-bass 
{Centropristis atrarius), the atherines {Chirostoma notatum), the mullet 
{Mugil, sp.), and the mackerel {Scomber scombrus); and among the off- 
shore spawners the pompano {TracJiynotus carolmus), the squeteague 
{Cynoscion carolinensis and C. regalis), the menhaden {Brevoortia tyran- 
mis), and probably the bluefish {Pomatomus saltatrix). 

14. — The movements of the schools. 
Habits of the scJiooUng JisJi. 

92. Making their appearance in our waters in the early spring, they 
rapidly increase in abundance until the sea appears to be alive with 
them. They delight to play in inlets and bays, such as Chesapeake Bay, 
Delaware Bay, Great Egg Harbor, Long Island, Block Island and the 
Vineyard sounds, Narragansett Bay, Buzzard's Bay, and the numerous 
narrow fiords on the coast of Maine. They seem particularly fond of 
shallow waters protected from the wind, in which, if not molested, they 
will remain throughout the season, drifting, with the tide, in and out of 
the shallow indentations of the shore and into the mouths of creeks 
and rivers. Brackish water attracts them, and they abound at the 
mouths of streams, especially on the Southern coast. They ascend the 
Saint John's Eiver more than thirty miles, the Saint Mary's, theNeuse, the 
York, and Rappahannock. The Potomac they ascend nearly to Wash- 
ington, a distance of sixty miles, and the Patuxent to Marlborough. In 
these rivers they come soon after the shad, and are so troublesome to 
the fishermen that their presence is easily determined. 

I am not aware that this difQculty occurs in northern rivers. Pro- 
fessor Baird found them in the Hudson and its tributaries in the sum- 
mer of 1854.* 

They enter the Housatonic late in the summer. I am not aware that 
they ascend the Connecticut to any considerable distance from its mouth .f 

They are found in the Mystic, Thames, and Providence Eivers, in the 
creeks on Cape Cod, in the mouth of the Merrimac Eiver, and in some 
of the large rivers of Maine, such as the Kennebec and Penobscot. 

Boardman and Atkins state that fish caught in the brackish water of 
the rivers are generally inferior as to fatness, " a fact indicating that they 
find there a poor feeding ground, and also that their stay there is 
long enough to affect their condition." 

*Fi8be8 of the New Jersey Coa-it, 1855, p. '34. 

tThis is perhaps due to the swift cnrreut of the river. Sea-going vessels fill their 
■water-bari'ols at Esses, six miles from the bar. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 71 

Movements to and from the surface. 

93. The arrival of the menhaden is announced by their appearance at 
the top of the water. They swim in immense schools, their heads close 
to the surface, packed side by side, and often tier above tier, almost as 
closely as sardines in a box. A gentle ripple, caused by the motion of 
the vertical fins, indicates the position of the school, and this may be 
seen at the distance of nearly a mile by the lookout at the masthead of 
a fishiug'-vessel, and is of great assistance to the seine-men in setting 
their nets. At the slightest alarm the school sinks toward the bottom, and 
in this way often escapes its pursuers. When sailing over a school of 
menhaden,swimmiug a short distance below the surface, one may see their 
glittering backs beneath, and the boat seems to be gliding over a floor 
inlaid with blocks of solid silver. At night they are phosphorescent and 
their backs glow like fire. The motions of the schools seem capricious, 
and without a definite purpose ; at times they swim around and around 
in circles, at other times they sink or rise. Why they swim at the sur- 
face so conspicuous a prey to men,' birds^ and other fishes, is not known ; 
it does not appear to be lor the purpose of feeding ; perhaps the fisher- 
man is right when he declares that they are "playing." When they 
are pursued by other fish they fly in confusion like a flock of fright- 
ened sheep, and are often driven in great masses upon the shores. 

The swimming habits of menhaden and mackerel. 

94. An old mackerel-fisherman thus describes the difference in the 
habits of the schools of mackerel and menhaden : 

"The pogies school differently from mackerel. The pogy slajis with 
his tail, and in moderate weather you can hear the sound of a school of 
them as first one, then another, strikes the water. The mackerel go 
along 'gilling' — that is, putting the sides of their heads out of tlie water 
as they swim. The pogies make a flapping sound, the mackerel a rush- 
ing sound. You can sometimes, in calm and foggy weather, hear schools 
of mackerel miles away." 

Birds attracted hy the schools. 

95. They do not attract terns, as do the schools of predaceous fish, for 
they are too large to be an easy prey for those birds, and they are not 
in pursuit of crustaceans or smaller fish, which might also serve as food 
for the. small birds. The bluefish and bonitos are attended by eager 
flocks of gulls and terns, which find a bountiful supply in the remnants 
of their voracious feasting, floating on the surface in their wake. The 
fish-hawk {Pandion carolinensis) often hovers over the schooling men- 
haden, and some of the larger gulls occasionally follow them in quest of 
a meal. About Cape Cod one of the gulls, perhaps Larus argeutatiis, is 
known as the " pogy-gull." 



72 EEPOKT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

The influence of wind and weather. 

96. On warm, calm, sunny days they may always be seen at the sur- 
face, but cold or rainy weather, and prevailing northerly or easterly 
winds, quickly cause them to disappear below the surface. In rough 
weather they are not so often seen, though schools of them frequently 
appear at the surface when the sea is too rough for the fishermen to set 
tbeir nets. 

Mr. Atkins and Mr. Dudley agree that the best days for menhaden- 
fishing is when the wind is northwesterly in the morning, dying out in 
the middle of the day, and then springing up again in the afternoon 
from the southwest, with a clear sky. At the change of the wind on 
such a day the menhaden come to the surface in large numbers. 

A comparison of the influences of the weather upon the movements or 
the menhaden and its allied species, the herring, gives some curious 
results. The herring is a cold-water species. With the advance of sum- 
mer it seeks the north, returning to our waters with the approach of 
cold weather. The menhaden prefers a temperature of 60° or more, the 
herring of 6ij^ and less. When the menhaden desert the Gulf of Maine 
they are replaced by the herring. Cold weather drives the menhaden 
to the warmer strata below, while it brings tbe herring to the surface. 

The observations of Herr von Freedon, of Hamburg, director of the 
German iSee Warte,* are important in this connection. Herr von Free- 
don made a thorough analysis of the log-books of tbe luggers engaged in 
the German herring fishery, and made an elaborate report to the Fishery 
Commission at Embden upon tbe influences which affect this fishery, 
especially the influence of winds and the temperatures of the sea. He 
has come to the conclusion that northwest winds are the best for large 
catches, and northerly winds better than southerly, westerly better than 
easterly ; also that moderately strong winds, sufiicieut to ruffle the sur- 
face of the sea, are better than calm weather, and light winds almost 
as unfavorable as stiff breezes ; a ruffling of tbe sea being, iu his opinion, 
of considerable importance to success in fishing. For the temperatures 
of the sea, he regards a temperature from 53° to 57° as most favorable, 
the chances of success diminishing with higher or lower temperatures. 

The conditions most favorable, then, for tbe appearance of herring 
at tbe surface are least so for menhaden, it being borne in mind that 
northwesterly and westerly winds on the east side of the Atlantic cor- 
respond to northeasterly and easterly winds upon the west side. 

The movements of the herring as influenced hy weather. 

97. In the " Scotsman " of August 25, 187G (quoted in " Nature"), is an 
interesting observation regarding tbe movements of the herring on the 
Scottish coast. The surface temperatures of the sea, as determined by tbe 
sea-thermometer furnished to tbe fishermen by the Scottish Meteorologi- 

* See Eeiiort of tbe Commissiouer of the Fishery Board of Scotland, 1875. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 73 

cal Society, is regarded to have been from 58° to 59° during the week end- 
ing August 19, but on the 21st, wheu the nets were shot, the temperature 
had fallen to 55°, and this was the first night the herring were caught. 
They were found low in the nets during the prevalence of warm weather 
between Northumberland and Peterhead. 

" The Meteorological Society of Scotland have for two or three years 
had this capriciousness in the movements of the herring under special 
investigation, and in the past year the deep-sea thermometers provided 
to the society by the Marquis of Tweeddale, its president, for test- 
ing the temperature of the sea, were again sent out by the Fishery 
Board to their officers, and the temperature obtained at diflerent periods 
of the herring fishery. Daily registers of the weather were kept and 
other particulars furnished to the society, both by the district fishery 
officers and by Samuel McDonald, esq., commander of the " Vigilant," 
fishery-cruiser. From the registers and the information thus supplied, 
the following conclusions have in the mean time been drawn by the 
committee of the society : 

"From the observations of the catch of herrings and the tempera- 
ture of the sea off the east coast of Scotland, during the two seasons of 
1874 and 1875, it is seen (1) that the temperature of the sea from tbe 
middle of August to the close of the fishing season was continuously and 
considerably higher in 1875 than 1874; and (2) that the catch of her 
rings was continuously and considerably lower during 1875 than during 
tbe same period of 1874. 

"Another result is this : If there be a district where, from any cause, 
the temperature of the sea is lower than in surrounding districts, in 
that district the catch of herrings is heavier ; and converselj^, if there 
be a district where, from any cause, the temperature of tbe sea is higher 
than in surrounding districts, in that district the catch of berrings is 
less. Among the causes which bring about a local increase or decrease 
of sea-temperature, the chief are clouded or clear skies in respective dis- 
tricts, according as these occur during the day or during the night. 
These local variations in the temperature of the sea in their bearings on 
the catch of herrings have been shown by the observations both of 1874 
and 1875. 

"Another important point is the relations of surface temperature to 
bottom temperature, and the relations of the deepest parts of the sea to 
the i)Ositions of the fishing grounds. It is found, for instance, that when 
the surfiice temperature is high — bigber than lower down — the fish, if 
any be caught, strike the nets far down, in such a way as to lead to the 
supposition that a good deal of failure may often arise from the nets not 
going deep enough. Tbe fish iirefer, apparently, so far as the inquiry 
has gone, tbe lower to the higher temperature. Tbe herring committee 
are most desirous of carrying out this line of inquiry into greater detail, 
if some of the fishermen could be induced to take the trouble of observ- 
ing the temperature of the sea at the surface and also at the depth at 
which the fish strike the nets. 



74 KEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

<' The iufluence of thunder-storms was equally seen as in former years. 
If there is a thimder-storm of some magnitude extending over a large 
portion of Scotland, good takes may be made on that day; but on the 
following day few, if any, fish are caught over that part of the coast 
^lnless at the extreme verge of a deep part of the sea, as if the fish were re- 
treating thither. 

" Owing to the shortness of the time over which the inquiry has ex- 
tended, the committee wish these results to be considered only as provis- 
ional. The results are, however, of the greatest value,fnot merely as indi- 
cating the lines of inquiry to be followed in further carrying on this large 
investigation, but also as indicating, in some cases not obscurely, the 
nature of the results which will ultimately be established— results which, 
since they lead directly to a knowledge of the localization of the herring, 
will serve as a guide to the fishermen where to set their nets with the 
highest probability of success." 

The influence of the tides on the menhaden. 

98. There has been no decided relation observed between the move- 
ments of the schools and of the tide. 

Following the coast in its northward trend they crowd into the bays 
and sounds, and breaking up into smaller schools the detachments find 
their way into the shallows. In outside waters they do not appear to 
be affected by tides, and when they are migrating they seem independ- 
ent of its influence. Mr. Dudley states that they often rise to the 
surface when the tide changes near the middle of the day. This is 
doubtless in waters near the shore, where the change of tide would be 
accompanied by some slight change of temperature. Mr. Simpson feels 
certain that more enter the inlets of North Carolina on the ebb than on 
the flood. It seems to be true, however, that throughout their halt 
during the summer, many schools drift lazily with the tide into the 
bays and creeks, coming in with the flood-tide, going out with the ebb- 
tide. In Southern waters they appear to hug the shore as closely as 
they can, and at high water thus gain access to waters too shallow for 
them at any other time. 

15.— Alleged changes in haunts and habits. 

The alleged changes of habit caused by the fisheries. 

99. Many of the remarks in the preceding chapter are applicable to 
the menhaden only when they are left to enjoy their favorite haunts 
undisturbed. On the coast of Maine their habits are said, temporarily 
at least, to be greatly modified through the influence of man. They no 
longer hug the shores, but are found many miles out at sea, where they 
are followed by the fishing-vessels. The introduction of steamers into 
the fisheries is an evidence of this change of habit, and indeed the 
almost unanimous testimony of the Maine fishermen, from whom letters 



HISTOEY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 75 

have been received, is that tbe use of nets and seines tends to scare the 
fish farther out to sea. The purse-nets are set generally at a distance 
of from five to twenty-five miles from land. 

Off Penobscot Bay menhaden are frequently caught by Brookliu 
fishermen outside of Isle au Haut and Great Duck Island. 

According to Mr. W. H. Sargent the fish are much less numerous in 
the creeks, coves, inlets, and rivers, though outsido no decrease is per- 
ceptible. 

Capt. William S. Sartell, keeper of Pemaquid Point Light, writes : 
" The menhaden come regularly every summer into the bays, but the 
seining draws them off out of sight of land so that the fishermen here 
can't get bait to put on their hooks. They get some fish in their nets 
on Sundays when the seines are laid by." 

Mr. Babson writes : " Since they have been taken in large quantities 
for their oil, they have gradually avoided the bays, creeks, harbors, and 
rivers to which they once resorted in immense numbers, and are now 
principally taken from one to ten miles from the shore. (Some of the 
fishermen maintain that since the advent of the bluefish, some twenty 
years ago, the pogies have sought deeper water for their own safety, 
while others maintain that the bluefish drive the pogies into shoal 
water; both statements are doubtless at times true.)" 

Mr. Kenniston states that the fish are now farther off shore than in 
former years, and in this he is confirmed by Mr. Phillips, who states that 
they are taken better off shore where the seines cannot touch bottom. 
On the other hand, Mr. Washburne and Mr. Brightman are of the 
opinion that the use of the seine does not influence the movements of 
the fish. 

Mr. Church, who has had much experience in the fisheries of Rhode 
Island, is very positive in his opinion. He writes: "The nets and seines 
do not scare the fish from the shore, for Narragausett Bay has been the 
theater of their greatest capture for forty years or more, and they h ive 
been more plenty than ever before known for the last ten years. I have 
seen a school of fish set at ten times in succession in deep water, and 
they would dive under the seine each time, but when they came to tbe 
surface they would not be ten feet from the seine, and they would lie 
still until we got ready to set, and when the seine was around them they 
would dive again. Fish will drive menhaden but man never does, ex- 
cept by use of powder; the menhaden are sensitive to a jar, such 
as -is caused by striking the deck of a vessel with an ax. Even so 
slight a jar as the dropping of an oar or the careless slat of a rung on 
the gunwale has sent a school of fish off at top speed." Mr. Dudley con- 
firms this. Steamers must carry low-pressure engines and run as noise- 
lessly as possible. 

Fishermen on Long Island Sound and about its eastern entrance seem 
to be divided in opinion. Messrs. Sisson, Havens, B. Lillingston, Wash- 
ington, Crandallj and Dodge incline to think that fishing with nets 



76 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

drives the fish away, while Messrs. Wbaley, Potter, "Wilcox, Beebe, Ing- 
ham, Miles, F. Lilliugston, and Ilawkins Brothers share the opposite 
belief. It should be noted in this connection that in Long Island Sound 
and vicinit}" purse seines worked off shore have almost superseded the 
haul-seines used twenty or thirty years ago, which were worked from 
row-boats and drawn up on the beaches. Does not this point to a 
change in the habits of the fish ? In this district, where the fisheries 
are mostly prosecuted in waters more or less land-locked, the fish are 
not so apt to be driven out to sea as in Maine, where the fishing is prose- 
cuted on an open coast. The timid fish may easily be crowded out into 
deep water by the vessels, which, working from the shore, usually ap- 
proach them from that direction. If the fisheries of Maine were to be 
suspended for a short time the fish would doubtless return in full force 
to their former haunts. It appears from the statement of Mr. Sartell, 
already quoted, that they appear inshore in considerable numbers if 
the large seines are laid up for a single day. Mr. Simpson thinks that 
a school which is frightened away by nets returns to the same place in 
the course of two or three hours. South of Long Island, menhaden 
fisheries have not been carried on to such an extent as to exert any 
modifying influence upon the habits of the fish. 

The opinion of Mr. Atldns. 

100. There is room for difference of opinion on this subject. Boardman 
and Atkins do not accept this view, and after the thorough study they 
have made, their views are entitled to much respect. They remark : 

"In general, it is safe to say that the surface movements of the men- 
haden are characterized by nothing so much as by capriciousness. They 
appear suddenly in the most unexpected spots, and, after a stay whose 
length nobody can foretell, all at once they disappear. One day they 
may be found at the mouth of the Kennebec, the next at Pemaquid, and 
the third all along the shore. Occasionally they reappear daily in the 
same spot for weeks at a time. Such was the case in the latter part of 
the season of 1874, over the sandy bottom off the Phipsburg beaches. 
Then it will sometimes happen that a whole season will pass without 
their appearance in bays where they have previously swarmed. Again, 
in some seasons they crowd the harbors and coves ; in others they seem 
to avoid them altogether. For some years past they have so generally 
absented themselves from these places as to excite a good deal of spec- 
ulation as to the cause."* 

And again: 

"Of the desertion of the harbors and coves there seems to be abun- 
dant testimony. An observer in Boothbay says : * Menhaden can be 
driven out of small bays so that they will not come in.' ' Certain it is 
that they do not come into the bays as they used to.' In Bluehill we are 

*0p. ct/,, p. 11. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. * 77 

told the same story. Id Jouesport it is said, ' Pogies used to run iuto 
all the coves and creeks. Of late years they do not appear to frequent 
the shores as formerly.' Testimony of this sort might be multiplied ; 
but it is unnecessary. The fact is notorious. During the past season 
(1874) they returned to some of their old haunts in great numbers, but 
have by no means resumed their former habit in this respect. Of this 
singular change of habit there are various explanations offered. Accord- 
ing to some persons it is caused by the practice of seining; others lay 
it to the oil and decaying matter from the oil-factories. Neither of these 
causes appears sufficient to produce such a result. The desertion of the 
coves is observed in localities far removed from those where the alleged 
causes have operated. Perhaps, after all, the thing to be accounted for 
is why the menhaden ever crowded iuto small bays as they used to. 
Were they there in search of food, were they simply obeying blind 
instinct, or were they driven in by hordes of hungry foes outside ? The 
latter supposition seems quite as probable as the others. We know that 
small fishes sometimes rush ashore to escape pursuit; we know that 
this happens with herring when flying from the pollock, and with men- 
haden when flying from the bluefish and horse-mackerel. The presence, 
outside, of a large number of predaceous foes, of whatever species, Avould 
be ample to drive the menhaden in. This might happen year after year ; 
while with the cessation of the cause the result would cease too, and the 
menhaden would no longer crowd into the coves as before. If this view 
be correct, then the recent absence of the menhaden from the shores 
indicates an improvement in its chances of life, by the removal of its 
destroyers. Lack of information forbids an attempt to point out the 
species that have been most active in producing these movements of the 
menhaden ; and indeed the theory itself is not proposed as one that has 
much of positive evidence in its favor, but just to -show the possibility 
of accounting for the absence of the fish from shore on the hypothesis 
of the operation of causes purely natural, and not inimical, but posi- 
tively favorable." 

The opinion of Mr. Maddoclcs. 

101. Still another view is advanced by Mr. Maddocks : " The menhaden, 
it is believed, does not of its own i)reference visit the coves and inner 
harbors, for its food seems to be less abundant in such localities, but to 
be driven into them by predaceous enemies. Upon the withdrawal of 
these, either in part or in full, the menhaden may reoccupy their former 
haunts at a remove from the shore, and thus disappear from inner 
waters." 

I hardly think that the facts support this opinion. The habits of the 
fish when undisturbed, as they may be studied on the thousand miles 
or more of coast south of Cape Cod, are a safer guide than their habits 
on the much-seined coast of Maine. 

102. Boardman and Atkins record some very interesting facts regarding 



78 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

the chauge in the northern limits of the range of the menhaden within 
the past thirty years. 

At Jonesport, Me., menhaden used to be very plenty. They were 
commonly caught in gill-nets two and one half fathoms deep, but it was 
practicable, almost any time, to get enough to go fishing with by spear- 
ing. They became scarce seven, eight, or ten years ago, and now very 
few are caught, although some come as far as this every year.* 

At Lubec, thirty years ago or more, menhaden were so plenty during 
their short season (July and August) as to be a nuisance. They have 
not been plenty since 1840 or 1845, and now none are found east of 
Jonesport. They left suddenly, and since the date mentioned have 
been rarely seen. Mr. E. A. Davis, of Lubec, a man of long experience 
in the herring fishery, has not seen a single specimen for ten years. Mr. 
E. P. Gilles, also of large experience, in 1860, or thereabouts, got three 
hogsheads of them one afternoon tide, and since then has seen none. 

At Pembroke, says Mr. Moses L. Wilder, '' twenty years ago, and 
always before that, the menhaden used to come here every year in 
great numbers, filling every cove and creek ; but for the past twenty 
years none whatever have been seen. Little use was ever made of them 
except for bait, and of that but little was needed here."t 

There is also evidence to show that the waters of Nova Scotia and 
New Brunswick have of late years been entirely deserted by them-l 

E.— ABUNDANCE. 

16. — Abundance in the past. 

The testimony of early writers. 

103. Of the abundance of menhaden in times gone by we can know 
very little, for they have never been considered an important species, 
and might easily escape the observation of writers. We infer that they 
were abundant the time of the Dutch colony on New York Island, two 
hundred years ago, from the name given to it by the New Netherlanders; 
in fact we have the statement, already quoted, of Dankers and Sluyter, 
who before 1079 saw in the bay of New York " schools of innumerable 
fish, and a sort like herring, called there marsbanclcersy L'Hommedieu 
speaks of their abundance at the close of the last century.§ 

Professor Mitchill, writing in 1814, states: "They frequent the New 
York waters in prodigious numbers. From the high banks of Montock, 
I have seen acres of them purpling the waters of the Atlantic Ocean. 
The waters of Long Island Sound and its bay are often alive with schools 
of them.-'^l 

* Statement of Z. D. Norton. 

tBoariliuan & AtkiuH, oj). cit., p. 21. 

t See below, paragraph 22'2. 

§ A<;rieultural Transactions of New York, I, p. 65. See Appendix O. 

H Transactions of the Literary and Philosophical Society of New York, 1815, I, p. 453. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 79 

In bis deposition to Professor Baird, August 3, 1871, Capt. Natbanael 
Smith, an aged Newport fisherman, gave the following testimony : 
" Menhaden are decreasing too. In 1819 I saw a school of menhaden 
out at sea, when I was goiog to Portland, that was two miles wide and 
forty miles long. I sailed through them. We were out of sight of land. 
They a])peared to be all heading southwest. There were no fish near 
them. I have seen a school on this coast three miles long. I think 
they spawn in A])ril and May."* 

Dr. DeKay, in his "Natural History of New York," says of this fish that, 
"although it is seldom eaten, as it is dry, without flavor, and full of bones, 
yet it is one of the most valuable fish found in our waters. They appear 
on the shores of Long Island about the beginning of June, in immense 
schools; and as they frequently swim with a i)art of the head above or 
near the surface of the water, they are readily seen and captured. They 
are commonly sold on the spot at the rate of $2 the wagon-load, contain- 
ing about 1,000 fish. The largest haul I remember to have heard of 
was tluough the surf at Bridgehampton, at the east end of the island. 
Eighty-four wagon-loads, or, in other words, 84,000, of these fish were 
taken at a single haul." 

Mr. George H. Cook, writing in 1857, thus speaks of the abundance of 
menhaden on the coast of New Jersey: 

"The moss-bonker (the Alosa onenhaclen, or Chipea menhaden)^ or, as it 
is sometimes called, bony-fish, menhaden, and other names, is an abun- 
dant fish in all the waters of this part of the State. It is frequently 
seen in immense shoals, fairly blackening the water for many miles. It 
is easily caught, and in large quantities at once. Mr. John Stikes, 
sen., of Beesle^»'s Point, with his brother, some years since, caught, in 
a ninety-fathom net, thirty two-horse wagon-loads, at four hauls, tak- 
ing fourteen of the loads at a single haul. Last summer, in a trip 
through the sounds from Beesley's Point to Cape Island, we passed 
through water filled with these fishes. Many of them swam so near 
the surface that their back fins projected above it ; and the appearance 
of the water was entirely changed by the slight ripple they made In 
moving. They were most abundant then in the vicinity of Hereford in- 
let; but they are found near all the shores; and the only limit to the 
amount which can be taken is in the ability to take care of them when 
caught. Sixty wagon -loads, of at least 2,500, fish each, were taken at 
one haul in Earitan Bay this season." 

17. — Abundance in the present. 

On the coast of Maine. 

104. Mr. W. H. Sargent considers thepogy the most numerous fish on the 
coast of Maine. Their capture affects their abundance in the coves and 
rivers and along the shore, though not outside. In lS7o, Friend & Co., 

" Report ot the Commissiouer of Fisli autl Fisbt ries, 1m71-'J2, p. 21. 



80 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

of Brookliu, took 25,000 barrels; Allen & Co., 15,000; others iu the 
vicinity, 85,000. In 1874, about 15,000 were taken, the larger portion 
by Friend & Co. Between 1803 and 1868, some years 500,000 barrels 
have been taken. In 1877, Mr. Sargent estimates the total catch in his 
district at 100,000 pounds, or less than 400 barrels. Mr. J. C. Condon 
states that the fish are quite abundant about Belfast, Me. ; 2,000 barrels 
were taken in the Belfast customs district iu 1873; 3,000 in 1874. Sein- 
ing does not appear to diminish their number. According to Mr. K. A. 
Friend, the pogies are much more numerous about Brookliu, Me., than 
any other fish ; their numbers are not apparently diminished. About 
14,000 barrels were taken in that vicinity iu 1873, and 23,000 in 1874. 

Mr. John Grant writes that, though pogies are more numerous about 
Matinicus Rock than any other fish except the herring, their numbers are 
decidedly diminished, probably on account of their wholesale capture. 

Mrs. B. Humphrey states that at Manhegin Island these fish are more 
numerous than any other, but that seining has greatly affected their 
altundance. 

Captain Coombs, of Esterbrook, who fishes for the Brightmans at 
Bound Pond, Bristol, Me., recently caught with his seine, at one haul, 
1,300 barrels of menhaden, and saved 1,179 barrels, made and valued as 
follows : Thirty tons scrap, at $10 per ton, $300 ; 3,050 gallons of oil, at 
GO cents per gallon, $2,190; total, $2,490.* 

At Sargentsville, Me., according to Mr. W. G. Sargent, 1,500 barrels 
of pogies were captured, in 1877, by Herrick & Bayard's boats. These 
were taken to the factories in the adjoining township of Brookliu. 

Capt. Frank A. Chadwick, of New Harbor, Me., states that seven 
purse-seines are used in that vicinity, which catch an average of 15,000 
barrels of menhaden annually, and a total amount of 125,000 barrels. 

Mr. William P. Sprague, of North Isleborough, Me., writes that pogies 
are extremely abundant in that vicinity. A fleet of menhaden steamers, 
some twenty in number, has fished much here. 

Mr. Lewis McDonald, of North Haven, Me., estimates the catch of 
menhaden for 1877 at 400 barrels. 

The number offish taken about Booth'Bay and Bristol is given in the 
report of the Maine Oil and Guano Association, cited elsewhere. Mr. 
Sartell thinks that the fish are driven away by the seines. Mr. Ken- 
niston and Mr. Brightman think that there is no perceptible diminution, 
as they continue by far the most numerous species. Mr. Washington 
Oliver thinks that they have been diminished by the fisheries about 
Booth Bay. 

Mr. Kenniston states that in the town of Booth Bay, in 1873, 152,000 
barrels were taken by five factories, as follows : Kenniston, Cobb & Co., 
17,000 ; Gallup & Holmes, 17,000 ; Gallup & Manchester, 25,000; Suffolk 
Oil Works, 48,000 ; Atlantic Oil Works, 45,000. In 1872 the aggregate 
reached 110,000 barrels; in 1871, with six factories, about 95,000; iu 

* Boston Semi-Weekly Advertiser, August 27, 1872. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 81 

1870, less than 75,000 ; while in 18GG, the first year of the work, only 
about 35,000 barrels were taken. Jnclsou Tarr &' Co. think that they 
are more plenty than ever before, but not so numerous inshore. 

Mr. Edward E. Race, of East Booth Bay, Me., reports, November 5, 
1877, the total catch for the season in that vicinity at 150,000 barrels, or 
51,948,000 fish. 

Mr. W. A. Abbe, manager of the Pemaquid Oil Company, states that 
the season of 1877 was a poor one, both in the number and quality of the 
fish taken. The company's fleet of five steamers took durinj:^ the season 
over 01,000 barrels (20,000,000 of fish), yielding about 127,000 gallons of 
oil and 1,800 tons of guano. The fishing began off Gloucester, thence 
extended to the coast of Maine, and ended olf Provincetown. Some of 
the steamers fished for other parties after the close of the Provincetown 
season off Newport and Sandy Hook, but the catch was insignificant. 

The three steamers owned by Edward T. Debloistook, in 1877, on the 
coast of Maine, 26,049 barrels (9,000,000 of fish). 

Mr. George Devoll, of Fall Eiver, Mass., fishiug in 1877 for the Nar- 
ragansett and Atlantic Oil Works in Maine, caught from his steamer, the 
Chance Shot, about 12,000 barrels of menhaden. 

In 1877, Gallup & Holmes took 52,000 barrels of fish on the coast of 
Maine and at Provincetown, besides 8,000 barrels caught and sold 
further west. These fish yielded 120,000 gallons of oil and 1,500 tons 
of guano. 

On the coast of Netv Hampshire. 

105. Mr. Chandler Martin, of Whale'§-Back Light, near Portsmouth, 
N. H., in his communication of February 23, 1874, reported that the fish 
were diminished January 9, 1875 j he writes that they were more abun- 
dant in 1874 than for ten years previous, and that they are probably not 
affected by the fisheries. 

Mr. Wiuslow P. Eayrs, of Nashua, N. H., calls attention to the rapid 
diminution of the pogies in that vicinity, attributing it to the extensive 
operations of the oil-factories and to the pollution of the waters by the 
refuse dye-stuffs and chemicals from the factories.* 

On the coast of Massachusetts. 

106. Mr. W. W. Marshall estimates the catch of gill-nets at Eockport, 
1877, at 1,000 barrels. The fisheries at Newburyport are described 
below. 

According to Mr. Babson the pogies are more numerous about Cape 
Ann than any other fish except herring and mackerel. He thinks they 
have decreased somewhat during the past ten years and keep more off 
the shore. Statistics of capture are given elsewhere. 

* Report of the Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries for 1871-72, p. 136. 
G P 



82 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

About Marblehead, Mass., says Mr. Dodge, they are greatly dimin- 
ished and are less numerous than most other species. 

Mr. Horatio Babson states that the value of the catch of menhaden 
off Gloucester in 187G was nearly $800,000. Mr. George W. Plumer 
estimates $750,000 for the New England coast. George Norwood esti- 
mates its value at from $300,000 to $500,000. 

Capt. Charles C. Pettingell estimates the number taken in Salem 
Harbor at 2,000 barrels. This is probably below the actual figure. 

Mr. Horace M. Merchant, of Lanesville, Mass., estimates the catch in 
that viciuity at 750 barrels. They are taken mostly by gill-nets, 300 of 
which are in use, and are sold for bait. 

Mr. J, G. Pond, of Provincetown, estimates 1,000 barrels for that port. 

At Plymouth, Mass., according to Mr. Thomas Loring, the menhaden 
are very few and are diminishing. 

About Wellfleet, Mass., states Mr. Dill, the number is greatly dimin- 
ished on account of the bluefishj they are not so numerous as the 
mackerel ; the cai^ture for the past eight years (in 1873) has been about 
$500 worth a year. In 1874 about 0,000 barrels were taken in the bay. 
Fishing does not appear to diminish their numbers. 

Capt. Hanson Graham and Capt. Zephaniah P. Lanman estimate the 
catch of Wellfleet for 1877 at 20 barrels. This is far too small. 

Capt. Henry E. Hatch, of North Eustham, Mass., states that many 
menhaden are taken in the pounds of that neighborhood. 

Capt. Solomon Dinnel, of East Orleans, thinks that 100 barrels are 
taken in the gill-nets belonging in that town. 

At Provincetown and Truro, Mass., according to Mr. David F. Loring, 
the fish are greatly diminished ; they are more numerous than any other 
fish in late April and May. Only 1,000 to 2,000 barrels were taken in 
1873. 

At Chatham they are more numerous than any other fish, though 
they do not enter the bay so plentifully as in former years. From 3,000 
to 5,000 barrels have been taken annually for the past six years. Cap- 
tain Hardy does not think that their abundance is affected by the fish- 
eries. 

Mr. Kenney states that at Nantucket pogies are the most numerous 
fish. They vary in abundance from year to year but for the past ten 
years, as a whole, their numbers remain about the same. Fishing does 
not affect them. On the other hand Capt. S. H. Winslow, line fisher- 
man, testifies: "The menhaden are very scarce now (July 19, 1871), 
and I think we shall lose them too very soon, because they are using them 
up for oil.* In this month and from the 20th of June the ocean used to 
appear to be literally covered with menhaden. Now there are not a quar- 
ter as many as there used to be. People think they are plenty because by 
using a purse-net one or two hundred fathoms long they can purse 
several hundred barrels at a haul." 

* Report of United States CommiBsioner of Fish aud Fisheries, 1871-'72, p. 46. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 83 

N. B. Tower, of Cohasset, states that menbaden are taken in the weirs 
located in that town. Mr. A. J. Hathaway estimates the annual catch 
at 10 barrels. 

John W.Cook, of South Dartmouth, estimates the catch for 1877 at 
30,000 barrels or 9,990,000 fish. 

Warren A. Gilford, of Dartmouth, puts the catch of that town at 465 
barrels. 

Capt. Darius F. Weekes, of South Harwich, reports "thousands of 
barrels." 

Capt. Remark Chase, of West Harwich, who sets a small weir for shad, 
herring, and pogies, reports about 2,000 barrels of the latter. 

At South Westport, according to Capt. John W. Gifford, there are 
five seines 120 fathoms long and 20 feet deep used in the capture of 
menhaden. Their average annual catch is about 300 barrels. Mr. 
Gilford thinks that 1,500 barrels are taken annually in Westport. 

Capt. Eldad Gill, of North Eastham, estimates the catch for that place 
at three or four barrels. 

Mr. Alonzo F. Lathrop, of Hyannis, Mass., thinks that the number of 
pogies is increasing, though it was not so great in 1873 as in 1874 or 
the preceding years. They are quite as numerous as other fish, and are 
not perceptibly affected by fishing. Alexander Crowell testified June 
29, 1871, that menhaden were more scarce.* 

At Edgartown, Mass., and about Martha's Vineyard, they are more 
numerous than any other species. Five thousand barrels were taken in 
1873 by the pounds; 10,0U0 in 1872. Fishing is not thought to affect 
tbeir abundance. According to Mr. Marchant and Mr. Luce, they are 
not more or less abundant than they were ten years ago. 

In the weir at Menemsha Bight, owned by Jason Luce & Co., the 
number of barrels of menhaden taken in 1869 (April 4 to June 7) was 
1,590; in 1870 (April 14 to June 8), 1,375; in 1871 (April 14 to June 
9), 3,200; in 1872,3,800. 

At a conference on the subject of fisheries at Edgartown, Martha's 
Vineyard, September 27, 1871, Captain Eease, acting as spokesman for 
a number of other fishermen, gave the following testimony : 

" The law ought to be uniform. One reason why the pounds were not 
stoi>ped by the legislature of Massachusetts was, that the Provincetown 
people made a statement that they could not fit out their vessels with 
bait unless they had pounds to catch it for them. 

" Question. Could they ? 

"Answer. How did they do it before ? They had the same facilities 
then as now. They used to send to Nova Scotia for bait ; now they use 
only menhaden and herring for bait. Menhaden are getting scarce. The 
harbor used to be lull when I was a boy ; but it is a rare thing to find 
any here now, because they are caught up. They don't catch them at 
Saughkonet Eocks as. they used to. If they keep on catching them up 

* Report of United States Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries, 1871-'72j p. 49. 



84 KEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

as they Lave done, we sball Lave to send to California to get a mess of 
fish."* 

At Waquoit weir, near Wood's Hole, Mass., the number of menhaden 
taken in 1865 was 211,100; in 18GG, 318,510 ; in 1867, 203,740; in 1868, 
124,726; in 1869, 145,710; in 1870, 407,930; in 1871, 235,270.t 

On the north side of Cape Cod, in Massachusetts, there are 19 weirs; 10 
of these were estimated to have yielded in 1876 16,236 menhaden, giv- 
ing an average of 1,624 to a weir, making an aggregate for the whole 
of about 32,480. On the south side of Cape Cod, in 1876, were 22 weirs; 10 
of these yielded 1,827,729, and the total yield is estimated at 4,000,000. 
The number of weirs in Martha's Vineyard Sound is 9; 6 of these 
yielded 1,395,270, and the total yield is estimated at 2,093,000. The 
number of weirs in Buzzard's Bay is 30; the yield of 11 in 1876 was 
54,878,000, and the total yield is estimated at 162,000,000. The total 
amount taken in the weirs of Massachusetts is estimated at about 
170,000,000. 

The returns of the catch of these same weirs in 1877, as given in the 
Eeport of the Commissioners of Inland Fisheries, is as follows: 

Weirs 1,770,136 

Gill-nets « 81,256 

Seines 600,198 

While the estimate given above is perhaps too large, the returns cited 
are probably much too small. 

On tJie coast of Rhode Island. 

107. Mr. Edwin A. Perrin, postmaster, Pawtucket, E. I., puts the 
catch of the five drag-seiues there owned, at 2,500 barrels. 

Mr. Daniel T. Church writes : "There are no fish in Narragansett Bay 
so plenty as menhaden if we take several years as the standard, but if 
we should take years as they come and name each year separately it 
would be different. For instance, during 1871, 1872, and 1873, scup ap- 
peared in Narragansett Bay in immense quantities. There is no doubt 
in my mind that there has been, during the years named, more of them 
than menhaden. Bat, for a number of years preceding, scuj) were scarce. 
A few years since squeteague were more plenty than menhaden, for 
the bay seemed to be full of them from near Providence to Point Judith, 
and from Seconnet to Somerset. Menhaden, as an average, have been 
plenty in Narragansett Bay for the last ten years ; but not far from ten 
years back they were scarce, and some of the fishermen left the business 
on that account. It is my opinion that the blue-fish were so ])lenty as 
to destroy the menhaden in large numbers. It was seriously feared that 
they were to disappear; but since blue-fish, sharks, and horse-mackerel, 

* Testimony ia regard to the present conditioa of the fisheries, taken in 1871. 
<Roportof U. S. Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries, 1871, pp. 39, 40. 

t Report of Massachusetts Commissioners of Inland Fisheries for 1871, and Ro^Dort of 
United States Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries, 1871-72, p. 176. 



HISTOEY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 85 

have become, for some unknown reason, scarce, menbaden have grown 
plenty, and 1871, 1872, and 1873 have been great years in the business. 
Taking for a basis of estimate that there are eight menhaden factories 
in Narragansett Bay that use about 20,000 barrels each, it would make 
the number of barrels caught during the year 1873 about 160,000. "We 
do not think fishermen have any perceptible effect on menhaden, for it 
is a fact well known that a few years back they were so scarce that boats 
and seines were in the market at less than half their value. The year 
1873 has been the year of surprise and wonder of all years, for the sea 
has been one blanket of menhaden from the Chesapeake to the Bay of 
Fundy." 

Lieutenant-Governor Stevens, of Rhode Island, who owns a pound in 
^Narragansett Bay, found menhaden more plentiful in 1871 than for many 
years before.* 

Mr. Joshua T. Dodge, of New Shoreham, E. I. (Block Island), writes 
that menhaden are very plenty, though they are scarce in particular 
seasons ; 1873 was a very good year for them. The fish do not seem t© 
be less numerous, but they are wilder than formerly. 

Captain Crandall is of the opinion that about Watch Hill, though 
still more numerous than other fish, they are considerably diminished 
in number by the use of seines. The catch of 25 drag-seines, owned in 
that vicinity, was estimated for 1877 at 100 barrels. 

On the coast of Connecticut. 

108. Captains Wilcox and Potter, of Mystic Bridge, Conn., think that 
there is no i)erceptible decrease in the numbers of bony fish on account 
of the fisheries, and that they are on the increase. They estimate the 
amount taken in the neighborhood (from Stonington to Poquannock) in 
1873 at G,500 ; in 3874 at 109,000 barrels. 

Captain Washington, of Mystic Eiver, Conn., is unable to see any 
decrease of late years. 

Capt. S. G. Beebe, of Niantic, thinks that the fish are on the increase, 
and are more abundant than any other species. He estimates the num- 
ber taken by Lnce Brothers in 1873, three seines, 9,000,000 j in 1872, 
four seines, 13,000,000 ; 1871, four seines, 17,000,000. 

At Saybrook, according to Mr. E. E. Ingham, there is no decrease, 
and the fish are more abundant than any othei'S. 

It is the opinion of Mr. H. L. Dudley that there has been no actual 
decrease. The wears in the vicinity of New Haven have been as suc- 
cessful in 1877 as in any previous year. In 1871, when the Pine Island 
fishermen captured 10,000,000 they thought the climax had been reached, 
but in 187G the quantity was increased to 18,000,000. The catch for 
seven years is approximately as follows : 

1871 .-,,., 10, 000, 000 

1872 ....... 13,000,000 

* Report ot Commissiouer of Fish and Fisheries, 1871-72, p. 19. 



86 



REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



1873 11,000,000 

1874 10, 000, 000 

1875 *1U,000, 000 

1876 18, 000, 000 

1877 ., „ 14, 000, 000 

In 1869, Miles Brothers, of Milford, Coun., are said to have taken 
8,000,000 or 10,000,000 of fish ; a season's catch which has not yet been 
exceeded, although their facilities for fishing have been greatly increased. 

A correspondent of the American Agriculturist wrote to that paper 
in 1873,t that during the season of 1872 the factories between New Lon- 
don and Stonington caught 40,800,000 fish, which yielded about 142,000 
gallons of oil and 4,080 tons of scrap. 

The season of 1877 has been an eminently successful one for the fish- 
ermen of Long Island Sound. From Pine Island Mr. Dudley counted 
at one time 30 schools of fish. This year, however, the fishing has been 
most successful around and outside of Montauk Point. 

Gurdon S. Allyn & Co., with three seines worked from sloops took 
in 1877, 13,000,000 of fish, yielding 42,000 gallons of oil. 

Luce Brothers, of East Lyme, Conn., with one steamer and nine sloops, 
with 48 men, took in 1877, 3,800,000, fish producing 103,200 gallons of oil. 

There are eighteen weirs in the harbor of Westbrook, Conn., which 
take, according to Capt. J. L. Stokes, about 8,000 shad and 500,000 
menhaden each, giving an annual yield of 144,000 shad and 9,000,000 
menhaden. This is probably rather an overestimate. The Westbrook 
weirs have leaders of 250 to 500 fathoms, and are managed by four men 
each. The menhaden taken in them are sold to farmers. 

The following are the returns of George Staunard & Co.'s pound at 
the mouth of the Connecticut: 



Year. 


Shad. 


Small shad. 


Whitefish. 


Alewives. 


1858 


1,200 
1, 032 
1, 294 
4, 381 
4, 056 
9,400 
8,305 
7, 069 
8,891 
9, 409 
8,781 




446, 090 
990, 600 
549, 650 
771, 930 

1,144,410 
67f, 070 
569, 040 
642, 107 
855, 575 

1, 113, 158 
2i.9, 070 


Barrels. 
15 


1859 . . .. . 




Hit 


1860 




25?- 


1861 

1862 


002 

667 

1, 655 

1, 248 
1,320 

892 
1,214 

2, 212 


ICi 

48 


18C3 

1804 


12 
Hi 


1865 . . . 


lOJ 

)2i 


18C6 


1867 


27 


1808 


9J 





Captain Stokes, with a shore-seine of about 400 fathoms, took during 
the season of 1877 about 1,000,000 menhaden, which were chiefly sold 
to farmers at $L25 the thousand. 

Mr. Miles, of Milford, Conn., states that there are no fish in the waters 
of the western part of Long Island Sound to be compared in numbers 

* In 1875 the steamer was first used by the Quiuuipiac Fertilizer Company, 
t American Agriculturist, 1873, vol. xxxii, p. 139. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 87 

■with the whitefish, and that so far from beiup: diminished by capture 
they appear to be on the increase. The men in the employ of the Geor|2;e 
W. Miles Company, took 12,000,000 fish in 1873, 10,000,000 in 1872, 
8,000,000 in 1871, and 8,000,000 in 1870. 

Mr. F. Lilliugston, of Stratford, states that the propotionate abundance 
of wbitefish to any other species is about 1.000 to 1. About 5,000 barrels 
are taken each year. Fishiug has no effect on their numbers, though 
previous to 1871 they were growing scarce close to the shore. 

On the coast of iVe<p Yorlc. 

109. In the eastern district of Long Island, according to Captain 
Sisson, the mossbunkers are, and seem likely to be, the most numerous 
spt^cies, He estimates that the number taken by purse-nets in 1873 
was 50,000,000, by other nets 10,000,000. Captain Sisson. 

Mr. Joseph D. Parsons, of Springs, Suffolk County, Now York, esti- 
mates the total catch of 1877 at 150,000,000 of fish ; 1,150,000 of these 
he credits to the 50 pounds and traps. 

During the three months ending June 30, 1872, there were 20,000.000 
of menhaden caught in Gardiner's and Pecouic Bays. These fish were 
rendered into 14,400 gallons of oil and 1,500 tons of guano, and yielded 
$80,000. The business of the year it is stated will be a failure. In 1871 
the receipts of the season amounted to $456,000.* 

New York papers of August, 1872, stated that during the two weeks 
ending on the 17th of the montb, the waters of Long Island Sound 
swarmed with menhaden. Oue fishing company took 1,300,000, realizing 
$1 per thousand ; another took 3,000,000. One couipany had rendered 
5,000,000 into oil and guano during the season, not running to its full 
capacity. The price of the fish, formerly GO cents per hundred, had becu 
reduced to $1 per thousand; yet the fishermen asserted that they could 
make money at the latter rate if they could sell their whole catch, but 
only one-third had been taken by the factories. 

During 1871 24,520,000 menhaden were taken in the Eastern Long 
Island Bays. In less than one week, in 1872, six companies took 
1,050,000. The " Cove Company " was said to have surrounded with 
its nets 1,000,(;00 at a time, but through a fault of the nets only 400,000 
were taken. One of the pound nets became so full that the crew could 
not haul it, and the fish succeeded in breaking it loose from the stakes ; 
it was afterward washed up on the bar. By actual count it contained 
over 800,000. In two weeks, in 1872, the seines took over 2,000,000. 

The two steamers and three sloop-yachts of Hawkins Brothers, Jcimes- 
port, N. Y., took in the season of 1877 29,500,0'JO fish, yielding 82,350 
gallons of oil and 3,275 tons of scrap, about one-half of which was dried 
fresh from the presses. 

The two sloop-yachts of William Y. Fithian & Co., Napeague, N. Y., 
*Public Ledger, Philadelphia, July 17, 1872. 



88 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

seined in 1877 10,500,000 fisb, which yielded 24,000 gallons of oil and 
1,300 tons of scrap. 

The Sterling Company of Greenport, N. Y., took in 1877, with three 
seine-yachts and six lighters, 14,449,000 fish. 

The steamers often make wonderful captures. The "Cambria," Capt. 
Lorenzo Tallman, is, I am informed, one of the most successful, fishing 
chiefly outside of Moutauk. In 1876 this steamer was brought to the 
factory, loaded to the water's edge, thirty-six days in succession. In 
187G the " William Spicer " captured 729,300 fish in five days. 

Review of the fisheries of Ncio England since 1875, hy Mr. D. T. Church. 

110. Mr. D. T. Church, who is recognized to be one of the leading 
spirits in the menhaden fisheries, gives the following estimate of the 
success of the fisheries for three years past : 

"1875 was a successful year; so was 187G. The year 1877 from New 
York to Cape Cod was the best since 1870. North of Cape Cod it was 
the worst since 1865. There was plenty of fish but no oil. J. Church 
& Co. caught, in 1876, 200,000 barrels and made over 020,000 gallons 
of oil. During the year 1877 they caught 183,000 barrels, and only made 
little over 300,000 gallons of oil. A fish called baracouta drove the men- 
haden from their usual feeding grounds, and were absent until they (the 
baracouta) disai^peared ; they then put in an appearance, but too late 
for the factories to do much. The first taken during the summer of 1877 
in Maine were from the waters of bays and rivers, and they were less 
than one-half as fat as they were the year before, when we took them 
10 to 15 miles at sea. 

"The fishermen usually steam square out to sea, and for the last ten 
j-ears have found immense beds of them, and apparently inexhaustible 
amounts, 3 to 4 miles off shore, and generally after about the middle of 
July they get fat. This year the fat sea-fish could not be found at sea. 

"About September 10, the baracoutas left and then they suddenly 
made their appearance off Portland and vicinity, and at one time the bay 
between Cape Elizabeth and Wood Island was packed full of the largest 
and fattest fish that was ever seen on this coast. Our fleet were in the 
midst of the schools part of two days. A storm came on, and after it 
was over, they were gone and were not seen afterward. It was about 
the 1st of October." 

The baracouta referred to by Mr. Church is doubtless the tunny or 
horse-mackerel. 

Hevieic of the fisheries of Long Island Sound since 1870, hy Mr. G. W. 

Miles. 

111. Mr. George W. Miles, of Milford, Conn., for fifteen years engaged 
in the menhaden fisheries, writes: 

" We cannot perceive any diminution in numbers or quantity, but we 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 89 

do find a great difiference at times (and some whole seasons) in size and 
quality. 

"Our usual average catch here in Long Island Sound has been about 
8,000,000 iier season, beginning June 1, ending October 1. The past 
season, 1877, our catch was 15,000,000; nearly double the catch of pre- 
vious years. 

"In 1870 there was a large quantity of large fat-fish in the sound; 
these fish could be seen occasionally several feet under the surface by 
l^ersons at the mast-head, but could not be seen by the fishermen from 
the deck of the vessel except occasionally. For some cause, we think 
they were at the bottom feeding ; they did not appear on the surface 
sufficiently long for the fishermen to catch them until very late in the 
season. 

"On the 10th day of August we had made only 14 barrels of oil. 
Some of our neighbors, having got discouraged, closed their factories, 
thinking there would be no catch for the season. At this time the fish 
suddenly made their appearance on the surface, and were, caught in 
great abundance. They being unusually fat, yielding from 12 to 14 gal- 
lons of oil per 1,000, we made in the next six weeks 3,000 barrels 
j)rime oil. 

" In 1871-'73 there was about the usual quantity of fish, yielding from 
4 to gallons of oil per 1,000 ; an average of several years previous to 
1870. 

"In 1873 there were immense numbers of smal. fish from one to two 
inches long appeared on the surface in the month of September; thou- 
sands of shoals could be seen at a time and great numbers in each shoal; 
these appeared to take possession of all the waters for the remainder of 
that season. 

"In 1874 these small fish appeared again late in the season and were 
about double the size they were in 1873. 

"In 1875 they appeared again much earlier; and in 187G they came 
in about the 1st of June, having increased in size and numbers; appar- 
ently tbey occupied the whole waters of the sound, so much so, the 
larger fish that frequented these waters were actually crowded out of 
the sound, or left for other waters, and remained off Block Island, at sea, 
the remainder of the season, and gave up the field to be occuiJied by 
the smaller fish. 

"The result of this abundance of small fish was a complete failure of 
the business for the two years 1875 and 187G in Long Island Sound, the 
factories and fishing gears having run at great loss. 

"In 1877 we provided ourselves with smaller mesh-nets and proceeded 
to catch the smaller fish, which had now attained a size about two thirds 
the average here and averaging about one-half pound each. We could 
catch these by using nets of 2f inches mesh. They were hardly worth 
catching, but the men could not stand another season of light catch, 
and there was no alternative for them ; they must catch these or noth- 



90 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

ing. There was not much oil in tbem, averaging only from 1^ to 3 gal- 
lons per 1,000. Consequently, those manufacturers who carried on a 
large business barely paid their expenses." 

On the coast of New Jersey. 

112. At Atlantic City, New Jersey, according to Mr. A. G. Wolf, the 
mossbunker is the most numerous fish. About 215 barrels were taken 
in 1873 by Adams & Co., and about the same the previous year. The 
fishing does not tend to diminish their numbers 

At isomers Point, Great Egg Harbor, the mossbunkers are " a thou- 
sand fold more numerous" than any other species. In 1873, 7,200 barrels 
were taken ; in 1874, 12,000. Mr. Morris thinks that there is no decrease 
from fisheries or any other cause. 

At Cape May, Mr. D. E. Foster writes they are more numerous than 
any other fish, but are not so plenty as on the eastern coast of New Jer- 
sey. As none are caught in this vicinity, the fisheries are not likely to 
all'ect their abundance, nor are they at any point south of Delaware 
Bay. 

On the coast of Delaware. 

113. About Bombay Hook, Delaware, according to Mr. J. B. Benson, 
the oldwife is the most numerous fish in July and August. At Mispil- 
lion Kiver, writes Mr. James H. Bell, "they rank equal to, if they are 
not more abundant than, the sea-trout, * and far exceed any other fish in 
number: a thousand bushels of trout are sometimes taken at a haul, 
but the main fishing season does not last over a month, while menhadeu 
are caught more or less during six months of the year. No diminution 
is noticeable, and the number seems to be about the same one year with 
another. These fish are not sought in this vicinity for any purpose 
whatever: they are caught in seines laid for other fish and are left on 
the beach to rot or taken home to feed hogs, or are composted for fertiliz- 
ing the soil, for which they are only valuable. The quantity taken 

--from the water never seems to aftect the supply." 

On the coasts of Maryland and Virginia. 

114. In Tangier and Pocomoke Sounds, Maryland, the alewife is the 
most abundant fish. Mr. Lawson thinks that their number is decreasing 
from the influence of the fisheries. 

At Apateague Island, Accomac County, Virginia, the alewives are 
more abundant than any other fishes, and are increasing, according to 
Mr. J. L. Andertou ; and this is also the case at Cape Henry, in the opin- 
ion of Mr. Richardson. 

Mr. H. L. Dudley informs me that a party of New London manufac- 
turers, visiting the Chesapeake in 1S6G, found menhaden in almost in- 
credible quantities. As he expressed it, "they were so thick that for 

* Cynoscion caroUnensis. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 91 

25 miles along the shore there was a solid flip-flap of the northward- 
swimming fish." One enthusiastic member of the party jumped into the 
water and with a dip-net threw bushels of fish upon the beach. 

On the coast of Worth Carolina. 

115. Mr. Manning writes that at Edenton, North Carolina, these fish 
are very few. 

According to Messrs. Jennettand Simpson the fat-back is by far the 
most numerous species on the coast of North Carolina. Mr. Simpson 
writes: "Heretofore the fat-back has been only about one-third more 
abundant than any other species, but I have seen twice as many during 
the fishery season of 1873 as I ever saw of any other species on our coast. 
They are on the increase, and not even their wholesale destruction by 
the bluefish seems to affect their abundance. About fifty barrels were 
netted in 1873 at Cape Hatteras. In 1877, in Cape Dare County, about 
300 barrels." 

"At Beaufort," writes Mr. A. C. Davis, "the menhaden are more 
abundant than any other species and are increasing ; and so it is at 
Body's Island, North Carolina, where 50,000 barrels were taken in 18C8, 
the fishery having since been discontinued. About 500 barrels were 
taken in 1877. They are used only for fertilizing purposes." 

Mr. Simpson describes their abundance at Cape Hatteras in 1871 in 
these words: "During the past season the fishermen provided them- 
selves with seiues and boats in time to meet the first run of the blue- 
fish. The seines were made of cotton marlin and were about 100 yards 
long, 2i-inch mesh, and from 40 to 50 meshes deep. The bluefish 
made their first appearance on the coast from the north. The menhaden 
passed about three days in advance of the bluefish. I do not think I 
ever saw so many of this species at any one other time, or at any one 
other season. From the balcony of the light-house at least 25 schools 
might have been seen lying along the coast, both north and south of the 
cape. Each school seemed to cover many hundred yards of surface and 
to be moving south at the rate of from four to five miles an hour. This 
continued, and school after school followed, for ten days, before the 
appearance of the bluefish; and when the bluefish did appear there 
seemed to be more of the meniiaden with them than had passed the 
station during the three previous days. Hundreds of barrels, I think, 
were washed ashore and were driven so close by the bluefish that they 
had not the power to resist the surf, which was quite rough or heavy, 
and they were consequently thrown ashore upon the beach. Only a 
very small quantity of these fish were saved, as the fishermen give their 
attention more j)articularly to bluefish, but some of them were saved 
and salted down, when they were sold to a good advantage. Some sold 
as high (in trade) as to bring ten bushels of corn, equal to -$7 in currency, 
for one common fish-barrel of the menhaden. 

" It has been generally thought by old experienced fishermen here, 



92 KEPOET OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

that the blnefish drive the fatback south in winter, but I have learned 
differently during the past season from personal observation, which the 
following fact strongly attests. The menhaden came three days in ad- 
vance of the bluefish, and entered the sound at all the principal inlets, 
and made their way directly for the fresh-water rivers. They could be 
seen as numerous in the sound heading north as they were in the sea 
heading south. Furthermore, by a letter from a gentleman of Ply- 
mouth, N. C, I learn that they passed that place, eight miles above the 
mouth of the Roanoke, in five days after passing this station; and, by 
another letter from Windsor, 38 to 40 miles above the entrance, I hear 
that they arrived there as early as the 18th of December. Thus it may 
be readily seen that the bluefish are not the cause of the fatback com- 
ing south. I would sooner think that the fatback caused the bluefish 
to come south in winter, as they generally follow in the sea, and among 
the last of the run of fatback. 

" Last year there were not so many of the menhaden, but there were 
millions of young spot about two years old; but, however, this winter 
there was not a spot to be seen." 

Dr. H. C. Yarrow found enormous schools of very small menhadea 
about Fort Macon, N. C, December 31, 1871. 

Dr. Elliott Cones, U. S. A., states that they appear in great numbers 
about the harbor at Fort Macon, N. C, in spring and summer.* 

On the coast of Florida. 

116. In the Saint John's River, Florida, the menhaden are more abun- 
dant than any other fish, and apparently on the increase. They clog 
the shad- nets in the sj^ring. 

Summation of evidence. 

117. The statements above quoted seem to indicate that the menha- 
den is by far the most abundant fish on the eastern coast of the United 
States. There is, moreover, no evidence whatever of any decrease in 
their numbers. They are apparently quite as abundant as any species 
on the eastern coast of the United States, not even excepting the cod, 
herring, and mackerel. There are, however, no data for definite com- 
parison, nor is there any means of determining the ratio of increase or 
decrease within a given period of years. The same must be said regard- 
ing the effects of the wholesale capture going on every year on certain 
parts of the coast, for the present perfection of fishing apparatus and 
the skill of the fishermen is likely to prevent any apparent diminution 
in the yearly returns of the fisheries, even though the species be gradu- 
ally approaching extinction. It is quite evident that with the improved 
methods now in use a much larger proportion of the fish frequenting 
any given body of water may be taken than was formerly possible. 

* Notes ou the uiitural hiatoiy of Fort Macou, N. C. <Proc. Pliil. Academy of Nat- 
ural Scieuccs. 



history of the american menhaden. 93 

18. — Abundance in the future. 
The probability of future decrease. 

118. There is no evidence of a decrease in the abundance of menhaden 
during a period of fifteen or more years of fisheries conducted on an im- 
mense scale. It seems, therefore, that no one can reasonably predict a 
decrease in the future. The movements of marine fishes are capricious 
in the extreme. The only cases in which the fisheries have been clearly 
shown to exercise a pernicious effect is where the spawning fish are taken 
in great quantities. It has been clearly determined that the menhaden 
are never captured upon their spawning-beds. 

F.— FOOD. 

19. — Food of the menhaden. 

TJie opinions of fishermen. 

119. Fishermen generally say that the menhaden feed on "brit" and 
" seed," " red seed," " cayenne," or " bouy-fish feed." These are sailors* 
names for small floating animals of any kind, such as the minute Crus- 
tacea, mostly entomostracans {ostracoda and copeopoda), which swarm 
the surface of the North Atlantic and are the favorite food of mackerel, 
herring, and many smaller species. They describe this food as " some- 
thing of a red or green color and about the size of hay-seed," and very 
naturally suppose the menhaden to be feediug upon it when they are 
swimming with their heads at the surface. Others think that they "live 
by suction," meaning that they feed by drawing through the mouth 
water containing particles of organic matter. The sturgeons, pipe-fish, 
and cyprinidse, all with toothless mouths, are supposed to have this 
habit. Others say that they feed upon the jelly-fishes (acalephw)* upon 
the "mossy substance" which clings to the eel-grass {Zostera marina), 
and upon the " scum " or " mucus" which floats on the surface. Perhaps 
all are right, for most fishes relish changes of diet. At Greenport, N. Y., 
according to Mr. W. S. Havens, the slimy coating of the eel grass (which 
is composed of small algce, Spyridia filamentosa, with various species of 
Polysiphonia and Ceranmim, &c., often clogged with a soft, slimy de- 
posit) is known as "bunker-feed." 

Peculiar movements of the menhaden. 

120. Captain Loring has seen the menhaden in Provincetown Harbor 
in groups of from 20 to 500 gathered among the eel grass in shoal water, 
swimming around and around in circles. He supposed them to be spawn- 
ing, but it seems quite probable that they were feeding. Mr. Hance 
Lawson states that in Chesapeake Bay the schools break up iuto small 

* Acalepliaa do not have the appearance of being nutritious food, but the fattest hogs 
I have seen in Florida are those at Mayport, which greedily devour a large species of 
discophore which is cast on the beach in great quantities. 



94 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AI:D FISHERIES. 

bodies at night, coming in-shore to feed and dispersing into deep water 
in the morning. Mr. Simpson states that in spring and summer they 
subsist principally upon mud and scum from the surface of the water, 
"which they obtain by feeding in muddy slues and channels on the ebb, 
and grassy rivers and shoals on flood-tide. 

The examination of stomach-contents. 

121. The examination of the stomachs of a hundred or more menhaden, 
just from the water, taken off Portland, Me., in Block Island Sound, at 
the mouth of the Potomac, and in the Saint John's Kiver, Fla., has failed 
to reveal any traces whatever of animal food. Mackerel examined at 
the same time, in Maine, contained numerous specimens of " seed,'^ 
which were mostly a large entomostracan {Irenccus Pattersonii), and 
small shrimp {Thysanopoda, sp.). Every menhaden stomach which I 
have ojicned has been found full of a dark greenish or brownish mud or 
silt such as is found near the mouths of rivers and on the bottom of 
still bays and estuaries. When this mud is allowed to stand for a time 
in clear water, the latter is slightly tinged with green, indicating the 
presence of chlorophyl, perhaps derived from the green algae so com- 
mon on muddy bottoms. A microscopic examination by Dr. Emil Bes- 
sels brought to light, in addition to the particles of fine mud, a few com- 
mon forms of diatoms.* 

Inferences from these examinations. 

122. Perhaps no decided opinion should be formed without additional 
data, bat the plain inference seems to be that the food of the menhaden, 
in part at least, is the sediment which gathers upon the bottom of still, 
protected bays, which is largely composed of organic matter, and upon 
the vegetation which grows in such water. Upoa what they feed dur- 
ing their long sojourn at sea there are no sufficient grounds for conject- 
ure, though it is quite possibly the soft gray ooze and mud which recent 
explorations of the depths of the Atlantic have shown to exist at every 
depth, and on the numerous protozoans and Bathyhins-Wke substances 
there flourishing. The peculiar digestive organs of the menhaden were 
described in paragraph 53. 

Professor Verrill on hottom-mud. 

123. In remarks upon the characteristics of different deposits of mud, 
Professor Verrill writes as follows : 

" In some cases, especially in well sheltered localities, where the water 
is tolerably pure, the mud may contain large quantities of living and 

* "A largo number of specimens [of menliaden] freshly caught in Eeiues were examined, 
and all were found to have their stomachs tilled with large quantities of dark mud. 
They undoubtedly swallow this mud for the sake of the microscopic animal and vege- 
table orgiiuisuis tliat it contains. Their conixilicated and capacious digestive appa- 
ratus seems well adapted for this crude and bulky food." (Prof. A. E. Verrill, in Amer- 
ican Naturalist, 1871.) 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 95 

dead microscopic organisms, both animal and vegetable, and these may 
even constitute more than one-half of the bulk of the mud, which, iu 
such cases, is peculiarly soft and flocculent; such mud is extremely 
favorable to many kinds of animals that feed on the microscopic organ- 
isms, especially the bivalve shells, holothurians, and many annelids, 
and the ' menhaden ' among fishes. The last variety of bottom, when it 
has a substratum of sand or gravel a few inches below the surface, is the 
most favorable kind for oysters, which grow very rapidly and become 
very fat in such places." * 

The evolutions of the schools. 

124. Why do the menhaden, when in deep water, swim from morning 
to night with their mouths at the surface ? Perhaps, with their widely 
expanded jaws and the complicated straining apparatus formed by their 
gill-rakers they are able to gather nutritious food which is floating on 
the water. To be convinced that this is possible, one needs only to ob- 
serve the immense " slicks" of oily matter, often miles in extent, rem- 
nants of the bloody feasts v^hich bluefish and bouito have made on other 
fish, generally the menhaden. An insight into the habit may be gained 
by watching the menhaden at the head of New Bedford Harbor, near 
the mouths of the large city sewers. Here a school of these fish is said 
to be invariably found circling around near the surface with open mouths, 
apparently in the act of feeding. 

Whatever may be the character of their food, their rapid increase in 
size and oiliuess indicates that there is an abundant supply in our waters. 

Mr. J. Carson Brevoort states that he has seen menhaden plunging 
among the floating beds of jelly-fishes. He infers that they feed upon 
these creatures, though he has not seen the entire act. 

The value of menhaden for bait affected by their food. 

125. Fish taken in Salem Harbor are not considered good bait. Some- 
thing in the food which is there obtained renders them very liable to 
decay, and however carefully they may be packed in ice the viscera soon 
rot away. A similar phenomenon is well known to the herring fisher- 
men of the coast of Norway, where a certain kind of food, presumably 
larval forms of small mollusks, often eaten by the herring, causes the 
fish to decay, in spite of the utmost precaution in salting. It is the 
custom of these fishermen to keep these fish alive in the nets for sev- 
eral days, to allow them to " work off" this undesirable food. Perhaps 
a similar precaution might be useful to the Salem Harbor fishing gangs. 

G.— EEPEODUCTIOK 

20. — Studies of the parent fish. 
Dissections of Connecticut fish. 
12G. Of the breeding habits of the menhaden, like those of the blue- 
fish, nothing definite is known. Hundreds of specimens have been ex- 
American Nataralist, 1871. 



96 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

amined iu the uortli by the naturalists of the Fish Commissiou, between 
the mouths of Jane and November, and iu the south in March and 
April, without iu a single instance discovering matured spawn, so it may 
be regarded as a demonstrated fact that the species does not breed upon 
the coast of New England and New York. A large number dissected 
by me at Noank, Conn., in July and August, 1874, had the ovaries and 
spermaries partially developed, but still far from maturity, and it seemed 
probable that three or four months would pass before spawning time. 
Others examined at Pine Island, Groton, Conn., October 30, 1877, 
had the ova more mature, but at least six weeks or two months from 
lierfection, as nearly as I could estimate. The fish then examined were 
taken in the last runs of the fall, and were supposed to be the Maine 
schools on their southward migration. 

Dissections of Maine fish. 

127. Boardman and others state that in the last week in September 
fish taken iu Boothbay had spawn and milt so slightly developed that 
only persons accustomed to the examination of such subjects could dis- 
tinguish the sexes.* 

The number of eggs in immalure ovaries. 

128. Hon. S. L. Goodale took the ovaries from a large number of men- 
haden at Boothbay, September 14, 1876, three to five dnys before their 
autumnal departure from the coast. Twelve hundred fishes were ex- 
amined, and only three were found to coutaiu ovaries which approached 

* The following letter by Mr. Atkins was received -while this report was being 
printed : 

"BucKSPORT, Maine, June 4, 1878. 

" Dear Sir : I have discovered something about menhaden which is now to me. 

"A short time ago a lisherman sent me a menhaden caught in Verona, an adjoining 
town to Bucksport, which turned out to be a male aduit, with well developed sperma- 
ries, weighing /\, ounce, the whole fish weighing Hi ounces; 10 inches long. To-day 
I have another specimen, also taken in Verona, which turns out to be a female, 11 
inches long, with fully developed ovaries, which I have not yet weighed, but which 
contain eggs a little more than half a millimeter in diameter. I should think they 
would count out 200,000 or more. 

"Another Verona fisherman, Mr. Dudley Abbott, says that last year he slivered a lot 
of menhaden, and should judge that one-third or one-half of them contained spawn; 
previous to last year he had seen menhaden with spawn occasionally, but not often he 
thought ; continued to find some such till August last year. 

" Mr. Harrison Heath, who sent me the female before me, told me yesterday that he 
had observed these 'pogies' with spawn for three years past, but did not recollect 
seeing them before ; thought they were plentiest last year. 

" You will recollect that I stated to you some months ago that the smelt fishermen 
reported that last fall they caught considerable numbers of young menhaden of various 
sizes — small at first and a good deal larger the first of winter— and that it was quite 
uucoumion for SJ many of them to be taken. 

" If these facts are sufficiently interesting, I will endeavor to follow the matter up. 
" Very truly, yours, 

"C. G. ATKINS." 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 97 

maturity. These ovaries are deposited in the United States National 
Museum (Cat. No. 1694G). I examined the ripest of them in order to es- 
timate the number of ova. The ovaries v>^ith their membranes weighed 
17,570 milligrams, or 271.140 grains (0.G2 ounce). A portion weighing 
420 milligrams was detached. This was found to contain approximately 
250 ova, giving to each an average weight of one milligram and eight- 
tenths. The estimated total number of ova is 9,7G0, or in round num- 
bers 10,000, which is close enough for all probable necessities. There is 
no indication of the size of fish from which the ovaries were taken. I 
am informed by Mr. Milner and Dr. Bean that in the shad and white- 
fish the number of eggs varies with the weight of the parent. In the 
latter species a mother fish of one i)ound weight will yield 20,000 eggs, 
and one of twice that weight double the number of eggs. This enumer- 
ation of the menhaden eggs merely serves to show that, comparatively, 
the species is not exceedingly prolific. 

I am not aware that the number of ova in the ovary of the menhaden 
has ever before been accurately determined. Mr. Joseph D. Parsons, 
of Springs, Suffolk County, New York, writes that 70,000 have been 
counted. Mr. Walter Wells, of Portland, Me., states that he has some- 
where heard of two millions having been counted. Several writers have 
lately expatiated on the immense fecundity of the menhaden. This has 
not yet been established. 

JVo mature ova hare been observed. 

129. Prom Maine to Florida there can be found very little satisfactory 
evidence that spawn fully ripe has been seen, or that spawn or milt ever 
has been observed to run from the fish when handled after capture. 

An instructive circumstance is mentioned by Mr. Bell, of Mispillion 
River, Delaware Bay, who states that after the last of these fish had dis- 
appeared from those waters, about the 7th of November, 1874, the bay 
from Cape May to Cape Henlopen and eighteen miles above its mouth 
was crowded with the largest menhaden ever seen on the coast, many 
of them equaling a medium-sized shad, and nearly three-fourths of them 
pregnant with large and nearly matured roe. They had been driven in 
by the bluefish which destroyed and pursued them ashore in vast num- 
bers. Sixty hours after the arrival of the menhaden not one was to be 
found on the coast. 

According to Captain Atwood, of Provincetown, some menhaden 
taken at that place in December had mature spawn.* lie suggests that 
these fish, which were very few in number, may have been detained in 
the creeks by accident. 

A statement by Mr. Atldns. 

130. Boaidman and Atkins, apparently quoting from Mr. George B. 
Kennistou, state that off the coast of Virginia, about Christmas, the 

* Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History, vol. x, p. 07. 
7 F 



98 REPOET OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

females can be readily distiuguisbed by the distension of the abdomen ; 
both sexes are so ripe that eggs and milt can be easily pressed from 
them. In Chesapeake Bay, in early spring, jnst after the advent of the 
adult fish, great schools of the young are seen, thought to be one and a 
half or two inches long. These little ones huddle together in dense 
schools, preyed upon by shovel-nosed sharks and other enemies. They 
are bouud, so far as can be seen, in no particular direction, and are not 
supposed to come further north, but to pass the summer there and leave 
in the fall greatly increased in size. The color of these young fish, when 
seen in mass, is black, instead of red, vvhich is the color of a school of 
adults when seen beneath the surface. These statements are not au- 
thenticated by the name of the observer, and must be received with 
caution. 

21. — Studies of the young fish. 

Tlie young fish in Soutliern JSleio England. 

131. Young fish from four to six inches long make their appearance 
in vast numbers a few weeks after the arrival of the adult fish. So 
extensive are the schools that experienced fishermen are sometimes de- 
ceived, mistaking them for schools of large fish, and make every prepa- 
ration for setting their nets. These little fish play up into the shallow 
coves and the brackish water at the mouths of rivers and become an 
easy prey to small bluefish, eels, flatfish, and other small fishes. 

Young menhaden seldom round Cape Cod, though they are not uncom- 
mon in Provincetown Harbor in September, where the fishermen catch 
them in dip-nets for bait. They have never been seen on the coast of Maine. 
Mr. Dodge states that they are occasionally seen in coves near Marble- 
head, Mass., and Mr. Babsou has seen schools of half-grown fish at rare 
intervals about Cape Ann. In the museum of the Peabody Academy 
of Sciences, at &alem, is a bottle containing specimens about three inches 
long taken in Salem Harbor. South of Cape Cod, as far as Cape Hat- 
teras, they swarm in the waters in late summer and autumn, and in the 
Saint John's Eiver, Florida, the creeks and coves are alive with them 
in summer and early autumn. In the harbor of Beaufort, S. C, they 
are said to occur in December. 

These schools of small fish, some of them little over an inch in length, 
suddenly make their appearance in the bays of the Vineyard and Fish- 
er's Island Sounds about the middle of August. It may be regarded as 
certain that they are not hatched from the eggs in these localities, be- 
cause for several seasons the ground has been thoroughly explored daily 
for two months before the appearance of these fish without finding a 
trace of fish of smaller size. 

Locomotive poicers of the young menliadcn. 

133. It has been suggested that young menhaden, less than two inches 
in length, cannot be thought to have traveled from the Virginia coast, a 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 99 

distance of tliree hundred miles, nor even fifty miles, and from this it is 
argned that some of the species must spawn not far from the Vineyard 
Sound. It is not impossible that this conclusion may be true, still the 
premises aro hardly sufficient. The young menhaden at the time of 
their first appearance on the southern coast of Massachusetts are strong 
and active, and apparently fully developed in bone and muscle. There 
is no apparent reason why they might not make long journeys. 

22. — Inferences as to time and place of spawning. 

The testimony of young and 'parent fish. 

133. Certain inferences may perhaps be drawn from the facts men- 
tioned above. The menhaden taken in summer and early autumn on 
the coast of New England show ovaries and spermaries in an unde- 
veloped state, but evidently §lowly approaching maturity, while others 
accidently delayed in Cape Cod Bay and Delaware Bay show in Novem- 
ber spawn nearly ripe and in December ova quite mature. In October 
the southward migration begins, and by the 1st of December they have 
deserted the coasts of the Northern and Middle States. These schools 
winter, in part, on the coast of North Carolina, where they arrive in large 
numbers from the last of November to the middle of December, and are 
also found throughout the winter on the coast of Florida. The young 
fish, from one to three inches in length and upward, are common 
throughout the summer on the southern coasts, and those of a larger 
growth, from five to eight inches, occur in late summer and autumn on 
the coast of Southern New England south of Cape Cod. There is no 
satisfactory evidence that spawning takes place in the rivers of the 
Southern States. Will not these considerations warrant the hypothesis 
that the breeding-grounds of the menhaden are on shoals along the 
coast, from North Carolina, and perhaps Florida, northward as iar per- 
haps as Virginia or New Jersey I This idea was first advanced by 
Ca[)tain Atwood and has received the sanction of Messrs, Goodale and 
Atkins. 

The opinions of fishermen. 

134. The majority of intelligent fishermen in the North seem to believe 
that the menhaden is a winter spawner, breeding in Southern waters, 
though some, arguing from the presence of small fish in autumn, advance 
the idea that they spawn in Long Island Sound and Narragansett Bay, 
while others still think it probable that there are two spawning seasons, 
one at the north in the summer and another in the winter at the south. 
I have been assured by several fishermen that when seining menhaden 
they have found a mass of their spawn, two or three feet in diameter, 
carried in the center of the school, and the idea was advanced that the 
lish transported and in this way cared for their eggs until they should 
be hatched. 

I have had the opportunity of examining one of these supposed 



100 EEPOET OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

masses of menhaden spawn, -which proved to be a duster of squid 
[Loligo Pcalii) ejjgs, and it is probable that these singular objects have 
given rise to all similar stories. 

A claim that menhaden spawn in Southern rivers. 

135. The .young menhaden which frequent the coasts north of the 
Carolinas are usually lour or five inches in length, and there is no record 
of their having been seen of a less size than three inches, and these are 
probably the fish hatched from the eggs during the winter, which, in 
obedience to the migratory instinct, move northward along the coast. 
The movements of the schools of young resemble in every respect 
those of the grown fish, and they approach the shore from deep water 
by the same routes. At Cape Hatteras, according to Mr. Simpson, the 
young fish from one inch upward are seen throughout the summer, 
which points clearly to a proximity to the spawning-ground at that 
point. In the Saint John's Eiver they are found two inches in length. 
It is the opinion of Mr. Kemjis that many of the menhaden spawn in 
the river, iaid he is positive that he has seen spawn running from the 
fish taken in the early part of the year. The presence of the young fish 
in the waters, however, does not necessarily point to that conclusion, 
as he very naturally supposes it to do. 

Mr. Simpson believes them to spawn in the Neuse Eiver, but this is 
not proven to be a true supposition. 

Criticism of a statement hjj Professor Hind. 

13G. In this connection I must call attention to a misapprehension on 
the part of my friend Professor Hind, who, biising his conclusions upon 
some uncollated returns in Professor Baird's first report, states that the 
spawning period of the menhaden is in the spring, at which time it ap- 
pears to come from its winter home in the deeper waters off the coast 
to the shores, at dates corresponding to those of others whose move- 
ments are governed by temperatures.* And again he states, without 
citing any authority, that "following the law which govern fish life, its 
mode of spawning resembles that of the typical herring." This may or 
may not be true. Ino one knows. 

23. — The feasibility of artificial culture. 

^1 chiim that menhaden may he acclimated in Northern u-atcrs. 

137. In a rei)ort to the minister of marine and fisheries, Mr. J. Gr. 
Whiteavcs remarks : "It would perhaps be desirable to try and acclima- 
tize- meunadeu in British waters. All that would be necessary would 
be to send a vessel or two, each provided with well-room, to the United 
States, and liberate the menhaden thence procured at the mouth of any 
of the New Brunswick or Nova Scotia rivers, such as Saint Andrew's 
* TLo tti'.ct vt' tlio lisbery clauses of the Treaty of Wasbingtou, itc, 1877, p. 73. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENH4DEN. 101 

Bay, L'Etang,.Lepreaux, or Musquash, in ^ew Brunswick, or Saint 
Mary's Bay and its tributaries, or Tusket Kiver, in Nova Scotia.'"* 

In his report for 1873, Mr. Peter Mitchell, minister of marine and 
fisheries, announces that he intends to suggest the artificial production 
of bait for the deep-sea fisheries on some part of the const of Nova 
Scotia, and to devote attention especially to the growth of the menhaden 
and other bait-fishes of that class.t 

In the "Case of Her Majesty's Government," before the Halifax Com- 
mission (see below in paragraph 219), the claim is made that "the men- 
haden bait itself can be bred and restored to places in the Bay of Fiuidy 
on the coast of Nova Scotia, where it existed up to the time of its exter- 
mination." 

With regard to these claims it can only be said that they are untrue 
and unsound. No one having the slightest acquaintance with the prin- 
ciples of fish culture would entertain the idea of the feasibility of such 
schemes. 

H.— ENEMIES AND FATALITIES. 

21. — Diseases. 
Mortality in the Merrimac River. 

138. Capt. Moses Pettiugell tells me that great mortality often pre- 
vails among the menhaden at the mouth of the Merrimac Biver. In 
187G the dead fish were heaped upon the shore to a depth of two feet, 
and the municipal authorities of Newburyport expended a large sum of 
money in carting them away. The fish seem to die in great paiti ; they 
come first to the surface, then, after a severe flurry, die. They sink im- 
mediately to the bottom, but float at the surface after a day or two. 

It is stated that the same mortality prevailed forty years ago as now 
among the meudaden in the Merrimac. They covered the shores, 
tainted the air, and were taken away by the farmers as dressing for land. 
It was noticed that the fish would come to the surface, spin around and 
around, and then turn over on the back and die.f These strange deaths 
are very probably caused by the presence of some internal parasite. 

25. — Parasites of the menhaden. 
The crustacean^ Cymothoa prccyiistator. 

139, Some of the parasites which infest the menhaden are particu- 
larly curious and interesting. 

The name "bug-fish," commonly applied to the menhaden in the 
Southern States, has reference to a large parasitic crustacean frequently 

" Sixth Auuual Report of the Departmeut of Marine aud iisheries, 1874, aiipeudices 
of the iisheiies branch, p. 196. 
t Fifth Annual Report, &c., p. 6G. 
t Springtield Republican, August 21, 1871. 



102 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

found iu tlie mouth of this fish. This parasite appe^irs to have been 
first described by Latrobe, who proposed for it the name Oniscus prce- 
fjustator* Say subsequently referred it to the genus, CymothoaA It is 
known to the fishermen as the ''bug," "fish-louse," or "crab-louse," and 
belongs to the order of Isopoda or equal footed crustaceans, familiar 
examples of which are the whale-lice {Cyamus ceti, &c.) and the boriug 
shrimps {Limnoria Jlgnorum) which riddle so completely the planks of 
ships and other submerged timbers, or, better still, the "wood-lice,'' 
"saw-bugs," or "pill-bugs" to be found in auy old cellar or wall and 
under stones and logs which have lain for a time on damp ground, 
Verrill and Smith t give twenty-three marine species for the coast of 
Southern New England. Most of these inhabit the rocky shores, cling- 
ing to the roots and branches of rock-weed or crawling among the rocks 
near high-water mark. Three arc parasitic, one upon the bluefish, one 
upon the orange filetish ; a third was found by Professor Leidy iu the 
gill cavity of a hermit-crab {Gelasimus imgilator). Cymothoa pncgitstator^ 
resembles in its shape a large "pill-bug," the females reaching the length 
of two inches, the males somewhat smaller 5 they are provided with seven 
pairs of legs, with claws sharply pointed and adapted for clinging to their 
l>rotector ; their color is dirty v/hite. The females carry their eggs in a 
large i)0uch on the under side of the body, formed by a series of large 
scaly plates, where they are retained until the young are hatched and 
large enough to care for themselves. The Cymothoa is not in any true 
sense of the word a parasite, drawing nourishment from the fish to which 
it attaches itself; it is commensal, stealing shelter and transportation, 
but not subsistence, and Latrobe was very happy in his selection of a 
specific name, for a ^om^i pra^gnstator was a foretaster, a cup-bearer, one 
who tasted the meats and drinks before they were served on the table 
of a prince. Clinging with its hook like claws to the roof of the men- 
haden's mouth, its back downward, its mouth in close proximity to the 
front of the fish's upper jaw, it is in a very favorable location to take 
toll from every mouthful of food which passes into thebrevoortian throat. 
It may change its quarters at will, and when the fish is dead frequently 
relaxes its grasp and crawls out of the mouth. Latrobe writes : " I have 
sometimes succeeded in taking out the insect in a brisk and lively state, 
but as soon as he was set free he immediately scrambled back into the 
mouth of the. fish and resumed his position." The presence of so bulky 
a guest must greatly inconvenience the menhaden. I have taken from 
the mouth of a fish nine inches long two of these crustaceans, a male 
djree-fourths of an inch long, and a female measuring an inch and three- 

* A drawing aud description of the Clupea Tyrannns and Oniscns Pnegustator. By 
Beiijamin Henry Latrobe, F. A. P. S. Transactions of the Americau Philosophical So- 
ciety held at Philadelphia, for promoting useful knowledge. Vol. V., 1802, p. 77, pi. 1. 

t Journal of the Academy of Natural Scieuces of Philadelphia, Vol. 1., part II, 1818, 
p. 395. 

X Report of the Commissioner of Fish aud Fisheries for 1871-'7"2j p. 5G7. 

§ See plate X. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 103 

quarters, the vertical diameter of whose bod^^, vs^ith distended egg-pouch, 
was a half-inch ; this pair of lodgers completely filled the mouth of the 
fish, and must have incommoded him in the act of feeding. Aside from in- 
conveniences of this nature, the presence of the parasite does not appear 
to affect the well being of the fish, those whose mouths are tenanted 
seeming as plump and healthy as those having apartments to let. 

About seventy per cent, of the menhaden from the Potomac examined 
by me in November, 1874, had the Ci/mothoa in their mouths, and even 
a larger proportion of those in the Saint John's, in April, 1875. Say 
states that a large number of those in the Delaware were thus infested, 
and Mr. F. C. Goode writes that this'is the case in the Saint John's 
Eiver, Florida. The thirty-first question of the " Menhaden Circular " 
issued by the Commissioner of Fisheries was intended to draw out in- 
formation on this point, and, from the statements of correspondents, in 
reply to this query, we may quite definitely conclude that this parasite of 
the menhaden is unknown in northern waters. Mr. A. G. Wolf, keeper 
of Absecum light. New Jersey, writes that a "bug" is sometimes found 
in the roof of the mossbunker's mouth, and almost every correspondent 
from localities south of that point notices its occurrence. On the other 
hand, it lias never been observed in the waters of New England and 
New York. I have examined many specimens from Long Island and 
Block Island Sounds without finding it, and Prof. S. I. Smith tells me 
that his search for it in the vicinity of Great Egg Harbor, New Jersey, 
was equally unsuccessful. In Chesapeake Bay and the Potomac, in the 
Delaware Eiver and Bay, in the inlets of North Carolina, and the Saint 
John's River, Florida, it is well known as the companion of the alewife 
or fatback. 

Capt. Robert H. Hulbert, in the latter part of May or early in June, 
while seining mackerel from the Ellen M. Adams, of Gloucester, near 
Block Island, took, with the mackerel, about a barrel of large menhaden, 
most of which had the parasite in their mouths. At this time most of 
the menhaden had gone farther north. The later a school comes in, the 
faster it runs to the northward, says Captain Hulbert. 

Inferences to he draicn from tlie presence of this iMrasite. 

140. It is not known whether Cymotlioci prccgustator is a constant com- 
panion of the menhaden, accompanying it in its migrations and dependent 
upon it for existence, or whether it simply seeks shelter in the mouth of 
the fish at a particular season of the year. Is it not possible that it may 
be free during a part of its life, seeking shelter perhaps during the breed- 
ing season? Latrobe found it parasitic in March ; my observations were 
made in November. It is very important that the chasm between these 
dates should be bridged, for whatever the truth may be, it will throw 
much light upon the migrations of the menhaden. If it be a constant 
parasite, the presumption will be that the schools of fish which frequent 
the shores of the Southern States, during the summer, do not in their 



104 KEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

winter migration come in contact with tbe schools from the norths other- 
wise the parasites would naturally be communicated. If it inhabits 
the mouths of the fish only while they remain inshore, and has there- 
fore a fixed faunal relation to certain parts of the coast, it may be con- 
cluded that the menhaden of particular schools are like, the anadromous 
fishes, restricted to particular portions of the coast, and that those 
schools which enter the southern inlets in spring do not proceed farther 
north in their migration, but remain in those localities throughout the 
season. Still other conclusions may be forced upon the investigator: 
it may be that the adult Cymothoa never quits its position in the month 
of the fish, and that the young only swim about in search of unoccupied 
quarters, and in this case it need not necessarily follow that the parasite 
would be communicated by southern to northern fish if they were to find 
their winter homes in the same waters. The study of this curious para- 
site and its habits will at any rate prove interesting and instructive.* 

Other parasites. 

141. The menhaden seems remarkably free from other parasites, and 
especially from intestinal worms, not one of which has been met with in 
numerous dissections. Leeches are occasionally found upon the gills, 
and there are one or more species of leruaeans. Mr. Uance Lawson, of 
Crisfield, Md., refers to one of these, saying that " there is a five pronged 
insect sometimes found on the tail which makes a sore and which we 
call grappling" — a name doubtless referring to its shape, which might 
call to mind a grappling-iron ; several other correspondents refer to a 
imrasite which is unmistakably a lernfean. 

I know of only one described species of crustacean parasilic upon the 
species, and this is found also upon the alewife. It is the Lerneonema 
rodiata (Lesueur) Stp. and Ltk., first described in 1828. It is found 
figured in the first report of the United States Commissioner of Fish- 
eries, plate VII, Fig. 30, and below, plate X. 

26. — rREDACEOUS FOES. 

Whales and dolphins. 

142. Man, with his instruments for wholesale destruction, takes six 
or seven hundred millions of these fish annually, but he is only one of 
its many enemies. Whales follow the schools and consume them in 
great numbers. Mr. E. B. Phillips states that fin-back and hump back 
whales always appear in Massachusetts Bay when the menhaden come. 
According to Capt. John Grant, keeper of the light-house on INIatiuicus 
Eock, Maine, " The whale rises beneath them as they play upon the 
surface and, with extended jaws, forces himself up through the school 
with such speed as to project his body half out of water, closing his 
jaws over large quantities of fish as he falls heavily back.*' 

* This paragraph waa written two years before paragraphs 84-91. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 105 

Mitcbill remarks : " The whalemen say he is the favorite f«od of the 
great bone-whale or Bahcna mysticetus. This creature, opening his 
mouth amid a school of menhaden, receives into its cavity the amount 
of some hogsheads of menhaden at a gulp. These pass one by one 
head foremost down his narrow gullet ; and eyewitnesses have assured 
me that on cutting up whales after death great quantities of menhaden 
had been discovered thus regularly disposed in the stomach and iutes- 
tiues."* 

I have seen fin-back whales apparently feeding in this way at the 
eastern end of Long Island Sound. Schools of dolphins and porpoises 
follow the menhaden, consuming them in immense numbers, and seals 
are said to be among their persecutors. 

Mr, Dudley mforms me that in 1877 the fish left the sound on the 12tli 
of October; on the 19th enormous quantities were drivt'n back by a 
school of 30 or 40 whales which the fishermen saw playing offshore. 

SharJiS. 

143. Sharks prey largely upon the menhaden. Capt. B. H. Sisson 
has seen 100 taken from the stomach of one shark. Mr. D. T. Church 
gives an account of the destruction of a school off Seaconnet, R. I. 
" They were lying," he writes, " apparently undisturbed, when a school 
of sharks ap[)eared among them. The havoc was fearful. One gang 
of fishermen had their seine in the water at the time, and they com- 
pletely destroyed it ; they were so ugly that they would seize the end 
of an oar as if it were a fish." 

Mr. E. E. Taylor, of Newport, R. L, gives an amusing account of the 
habits of the thresher shark {Alopias vidpes) : " The heaviest shark we 
have around here is the thresher shark ; they feed on menhaden. I saw 
a thresher shark kill with his tail, which was nearly eight feet long, half 
a bushel of menhaden at one blow, and then he picked them up off the 
water. They come up tail first, and give about two slams, and it is 
"good-by, John,' to about half a bushel of menhaden."! This story 
should be taken cum grano salis, but still may contain a few grains of 
truth. 

The horned dog-fish (Squalus americamis) and the smooth dog-fish 
{Mustelus Iccvis), the smallest representatives in our waters of the shark 
family, doubtless do more injury than their larger brethren by reason 
of their great abundance. The former are so voracious that when they 
make their appearance all other fishes are driven away. When the 
dog-fish "strike on," an experienced fisherman always pulls in his lines 
or his nets and abandous his work. 

Othci' fislics. 

144. All the large carnivorous fishes prey on the menhaden. The 
horse-mackerel or tunny (Orcymis thynniis) is one of the most destruc- 

* Trans. N. Y. Lit. and Phil. Soc, 1, 1815, 453. 

t Report of Commissioner of Fisli and Fisheries, 1871-'72, p. 28. 



106 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

tive iu ceriaiu localities. " I have often," writes Mr. George E. Allen, 
of Brookliu, Me., "observed these pests, with the most imaginable 
indignation, in their destruction of these fish, and watched their antics 
from the masthead of my vessel, rushing and thrashing like demons 
among a school of fish, darting with almost lightning swiftness through 
them, scattering them in every direction, and throwing hundreds into 
the air with their tails." This is doubtless the barracoutar spoken of 
by Maine fishermen. 

Boardman and Atkins accuse the pollock (PollacMits carhonarius) and 
the whiting or silver hake {Merlncins hiliRearis) of much damage done. 
Iu reference to the latter they wiite: "It is known to pursue both herring 
and menhaden. The former it devours in great numbers, and at Grand 
Manan a great many of the smaller ones are sometimes caught in the 
herring-nets. In Bluehill Bay, in Kennebec River, and doubtless in other 
places, it is caught in the weirs, and the Brookliu fishermen often take 
it iu their seines with menhaden. Its teeth are rather long and remark- 
ably sharp, and they are charged with wounding a good many menhaden 
which are afterward caught with their sides and backs lacerated as if iu 
that way."* 

The striped bass {Roccus Uneatns) is destructive, and so is the sque- 
teagueor weakfish [Cynoscionregalis) and its southern representative, the 
spotted squeteague or so-called "sea trout" [Cynoscion carolinensis.\) 
I have found a menhaden a loot in length in the stomach of a sque- 
teague. 

In the southern rivers the gar-fish (ie^ji^osfews ossews), the "trout" 
{Microptcrus nigricans), and the cat-fishes {Siluridcc) with the tarpura, 
[Megalops thrissoides), are said to be its worst enemies. I have found 
menhaden to be the only thing in the stomachs of specimens of the latter 
species, taken on the northern coast in summer, and it is probable that 
these were attracted from their usual haunts in pursuit of their favorite 
food. The sword-fish {Xipldas gladius) destroys many, rushing through 
the masses of fish, striking right and left with its powerful weapons. 
From examination of their stomachs it would appear that the bayonet- 
fish {Tetrapturus albidus) also feeds extensively upon them. The codfish 
is said to eat many of them, and this seems quite i)robable, for these 
fish bite freely at a menhaden bait. 

The hluejish and the bonito. 

345. The bluefisli {Pomatomiis saltatrix) with the bonito {Pelamys 
sarda) are, however, their most destructive enemies, not even excepting 
man. Mr. iSimpson, examining a great many of the bluefisli caught on 
the North Carolina coast in the summer of 1874, found from one to three 
" fatbacks" in the stomach of each. These corsairs of the sea, not con- 
tent with what they eat, which is of itself an enormous quantity, rush 

*0p. cir., 1). 14. 

t A .southern correspondeat speaks of finding eight menhaden in the stomach of one 
sea trout. 



HISTOEY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 107 

ravenously through the closely crowded schools, cutting and tearing 
the living iish as they go, and leaving in their wake the mangled frag- 
ments. Traces of the carnage remain for weeks in the great "slicks" 
of oil so commonly seen on smooth water during the summer season. 

Menhaden driven ashore. 

140. The terrified fish fly in every direction, and are often driven 
ashore in great numbers. Mr. Church states that the bluefish some- 
times come into Massachusetts and Narragansett Bays in such force as 
to completely exterminate the menhaden, driving them ashore in great 
numbers. 

Mr. James H. Bell, keeper of Mispillion Eiver Light, Delaware Bay, 
writes that about November 7, 1874, the shores of the bay from Lewes 
up to Mispillion Eiver were lined with dead fish, bitten to death by the 
bluefish, or snapping mackerel as it is there called. Many of the dead 
fish were without tails, and all were more or less mutilated. Many 
other cases may be mentioned where the fish were thus floated ashore, 
but whether their death is to be traced to the persecutions of the blue- 
fish or to some epidemic prevailing at the time can never be certainly 
known. 

Mr. David F. Loring, keeper of Highland Light, Truro, Mass., has 
seen hundreds of barrels of them cumbering the shore in the western 
part of Provincetown Harbor, driven up by bluefish, and has also seen 
them thrown ashore in numbers at the mouth of the Merrimac River, 

About 185G they were thrown up on the coast of Maine in such quau- 
tities that the people in the vicinity were obliged to bury them as a sani- 
tary measure. 

Capt. Joseph Hardy second, light-house keeper at Chatham, Mass., 
states that in 1832 they drifted ashore on the southeastern point of Cape 
Cod in such numbers that the inhabitants were summoned to bury them 
in pits, for fear of a pestilence, and that the same thing occurred a few 
years later. 

Mr. B. Lillingstou, of Stratford, states that large numbers are sometimes 
washed up along the coast of Connecticut in September and October. 
Mr. F. Lillingstou, of the same place, has seen thousands dead upon the 
shore, some with "a reddish blotched appearance, others eaten as if by 
cancer." According to Mr. Albert Morris, they floated ashore b^' tons 
at Somers Point, New Jersey, in October, 1873. 

Mr. Isaac D, Ilobbius, keeper of Hog Island light station, Maryland, 
states that in August, 1852, he saw a great many dead ones, about two 
inches in length, in Swangut Creek, on the Eastern Shore, near the line 
between Maryland and Virginia. He attributes their death to the effects 
of the warm weather. 

According to Mr. Wallace R. Jennett, they have sometimes drifted 
ashore on Cape Hatteras in such abundance that the stench of the de- 
composing mass was almost unendurable. 



108 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

Capt. David Kemps, of Yellow Bluffs, Fla., writes that about tbe year 
1870 the lueuhaden in the Saint John's Eiver died in large numbers and 
were washed ashore upon the banks. 

Tbe Newport (li. I.) Daily News of June 13, 1870, states: " Millions 
of fish, principally menhaden, scup, and young shad, have been driven 
on to the New Jersey and Long Island shores the past week. Coves, 
rivers, fiats, inlets, and ditches have been so lull that farmers have gath- 
ered them up by the common pitchforks and shovels, carrying off thou- 
sands of cart-loads to manure the land. Ifc is supposed that these schools 
of small fry were driven inshore by tbe bluefish." 

Mr. Phillips has known them driven by the bluefish up the great 
rivers of Maine until they died and were washed ashore by thousands. 

Captain Spmdcl on the ravages of the hluejish. 

1-47. Capt. Isaiah Spindel, manager of a fish-pound at the eastern ex- 
tremity of Buzzard's Bay, states: "I do not think pound-fishing is a 
quarter as bad as bluefish for destroying fish. A bluefish will destroy 
a thousand fish in a day. When they get into a school of menhaden 
you can see a stream of blood as far as you can see. They go into them 
and they will destroy the whole school before they let them go, 1 
think menhaden are more scarce than they used to be. They put up 
the guano factory here (at Wood's Holl) on account of menhaden being 
so plenty then. Twenty five or thirty years ago there were no bluefish, 
and menhaden were plenty. Only once in a while were there any blue- 
fish there. Finally tbe bluefish got so plenty ^hey drove all the men- 
haden out of the bay. There are plenty of menhaden up in the heads 
of tbe harbors ; some bluefish will go up and drive them up as far as 
they can, but bluefish don't like to go up into fresh water. Squeteague 
will swallow menhaden whole. I have seen bluefish and squeteague 
throw the food out of their stomachs when caught. I think the blue- 
fish fill their stomachs and then empty them just for the fun of the thing, 
so as to catch more fish. I have seen them go into a school of menha- 
den and catch some and throw them up again, and then go in again. I 
could not swear they throw the stuff up, but I am j)ositive that it is so. 
I have seen the fish all chewed up thrown out in the water. They often 
bite and swallow a part and leave the rest."* 

Professor Baird on the destructiveness of the hluefish. 

148. Professor Baird, in his well-known and often-quoted estimates of 
the amount of food annually consumed by the bluefish, t states that prob- 
ably ten thousand millions of fish, or twenty-five hundred millions of 

* Testimony iu regard to the present condition of the iisberies, taken in 1871. <Ke- 
port of tbe United States Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries, lc71-72, iip. G8-70. 

t Natural History of Important Food-Fisbes of the south shore of New EngUxud, 
II.— Tbe Bluefish {Pomatomiis saUairix, (Linn.) Gill. Report of United States Commis- 
sioner of Fish and Fisheries, 1871-';2, p. 2^1.-2. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 109 

pounds, daily, or twelve buDdred millioo millions of fish and three hun- 
dred thousand millions of i)ounds annually, are much below the real 
figures. This estimate is for the period of four months in the middle of 
the summer and fall, and for the coast of New England only. The cal- 
culation allows ten fish, or two and one-half pounds, daily, to each 
bluefisli, and estimates the number of these corsairs of the sea in New 
England waters at one thousand million. This calculation includes 
only those fish which exceed three pounds in weight, taking no account 
of those of a smaller size, which are at least a hundred-fold more numer- 
ous, and fully as voracious, and which prey upon the young fisb. 

Such estimates profess to be nothing more than vague approximations, 
but are legitimate in their way, enabling us to appreciate more clearly 
the luxuriance of marine life. The application of similar methods of 
calculation to the menhaden would be much more difficult. At least 
one-fourth of the fish devoured by bluefish on the shores of New England 
are probably menhaden, and as many more are no doubt destroyed by 
squeteague, bonito, sharks, horse-mackerel, cod, and other predaceous 
species. The waters of New England wash only one-fourth of the 
extent of coast upon which the menhaden is abundant, and the estimate 
of Professor Baird covers only one-fourth of the entire year. Bluefish 
are abundant for at least half the year as far south as the Carolinas, and 
commit terrible havoc among the menhaden in the winter months. 
Farther south they are the favorite food of other species, chief among 
which are the sea-trout {Cijnoscion caroUnensis). Then there are the 
schools of porpoises and the whales, which pursue the herded menhaden 
with wholesale destruction. 

An estimate of the amiual destruction of menhaden. 

149. Is it too much, then, to multiply the three hundred millions of 
millions of menhaden j^robably consumed by the full-grown bluefish 
alone on the coast of New England in the summer months by ten? 
This would allow three thousand millions of millions of menhaden, old 
and young, annually destroyed in the waters of the United States, in 
comparison with which the number annually taken by man is peifectly 
insignificant. This estimate will seem extravagant at first sight, but I 
believe that it will be found a very moderate one by any who may take 
the pains to investigate the question for themselves. 

The place of the menhaden in nature. 

150. It is not hard to surmise.tbe menhaden's place in natiire ; swarm- 
ing our waters in countless myriads, swimming in closely-ijacked, 
unwieldy masses, helpless as flocks of sheep, close to the surface and at 
the mercy of any enemy, destitute of means of defense or offense, their 
mission is unmistakably to be eaten. In the economy of nature certain 
orders of terrestrial animals, feeding entirely upon vegetable sub- 



110 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

Stances, seem intended for one purpose — to elaborate simpler materials 
into the nitrogenous substances necessary for the food of other animals 
which are wholly or in part carnivorous in their diet. So the menhaden, 
deriving its own subsistence from otherwise unutilized organic matter, 
is pre-eminently a meat-producing machine. Man takes from the water 
annually six or seven hundred juillions of these fish, weighing from 
two hundred and lifry to three hundred thousand tons, but his indebted- 
ness to the menhaden does not end here. When he brings upon his 
table bluefisli, bouitos, weakfish, swordfish, bass, codfish, what is he 
eating? Usually nothing but menhaden! 

27. — Man and the fisheries. 

Former alhisions to the injluence of tJie fisheries . 

151. I haveremarked above (paragraph 117) that the menhaden appears 
to be the most abundant species on the eastern coast of the United 
States, and that there is no evidence of any permanent decrease in its 
numbers, although from year to year there are fluctuations in their 
numerical representtttion. 

I have also discussed (paragraph 102) the question of the alleged 
change in their habits from the tendency of seine-fishing to drive them 
farther from this coast. Upon this question there can be no decided 
judgment at present. In paragraph 118, I have spoken of the slight 
probability of decrease in future. 

Future increase or decrease. 

152. Whether there is any likelihood that the myriads which now 
swarm our waters will ever be perceptibly diminished by the loss of six or 
seven hundred millions of their number annually I will not presume to 
say. I simply call attention to the fact that spawning fish are appar- 
ently never taken in the nets. It is the opinion of many authorities 
that if fish are not interfered with at the time when they are reproduc- 
ing their kind there is no great probability of decreasing their number. 

Alleged destruction of the fisheries. 

153. The Commissioners of Fisheries of the State of New York, Messrs. 
Horatio Seymour, Edward M. Smith, and Eobert B. Eoosevelt, in their 
report for the year 1874* (p. 31), speaking of the depletion of the waters 
of Great South Bav, remark: 

" Last season was favorable for the pound-fishermen, in the circum- 
stance that the sharks did not destroy their nets. The result was, that 
there was absolutely no fishing inside the bay the entire summer. 
Usually, by the month of August, they have to move from the inlet to 

* Report I of the | Coinmiasioners of Fisheries | of the | State of New York. | | 

Transmitted to the legislature, February 1, 1875. | j Albany: | Weed, Parsons and. 

Company, Printers. | 1875. | 8vo. pp. CI. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. Ill 

safer quarters, and the weakfisli get in sufficiently to iurnish fair fish- 
ing, and to promise a continuance of the supply. But that year the 
pounds remained undisturbed, and not even the weakfish could find 
an entrance. Formerly moss-bunkers, or bonyfish which are manu- 
factured into oil and manure, frequented the bay and brought bluelish 
after them. They are the favorite food of the latter. They have been 
the foundation for quite a business in that part of our State, a number 
of factories having been established along the shore. Now they are 
never taken inside the bay, and the bluefish, whether fur the reason 
that their food is wanted, or on account of their natural shyness, are 
also rarely seen inside. The latter are still caught in seines at some of 
the inlets, but seem to be stopped by the pound-nets, or else return of 
their own accord to the ocean. They do not enter the pound-nets, being 
seldom taken in them. This would go to''show thot they are frightened 
away; that when they meet the wings of the net they do not attempt 
to pass around it, but simply retrace their steps to safer quarters. The 
loss thus inflicted on the residents along the bay, without benefit to 
any one, is incalculable." 

Comments vpon these aUegations. 

154. It is the commonly received opinion that purse-net fishing is des- 
tined eventually to destroy all the menhaden in our waters. Many de- 
cided views to this eifect have been advanced by correspondents. All 
that can be said at present is that the commonly received opinion has 
not yet been proved to be true. The same may be said regarding pound- 
net fishing. It is doubtless true that the fisheries in a given locality 
may deplete the waters of the immediate region in which they are prose- 
cuted. The cod and halibut may be fished for upon a single bank until 
the local supply is exhausted. This depletion does not, however, neces- 
sarily aifect the aggregate numbers upon the entire coast. 

The barrier of pounds will doubtless prevent the menhaden from enter- 
ing a body of water like the Great South Bay, but this does not neces- 
sarily have any eifect upon the aggregate representation of the species 
in the coast waters. The small number offish consumed by man propor- 
tionately to the number consumed by other fishes has been alluded to. 

A writer in Chambers's Journal estimates the herring-eating power of 
the Solan goose as follows : " Say that the island of St. Kilda has a popu- 
lation of 200,000 of these birds, and they feed there for seven months; 
let us also suppose that each bird, or its young ones, eat only five her- 
rings per diem ; that gives a sum total of one million of these fish, and 
counting the days in the seven months from March to September as 214, 
that figure may be taken to represent in millions the quantity of her- 
rings annually devoured by these birds. It has been calculated that the 
cod and ling in the seas and friths around Scotland would devour more 
herrings than could be caught by 50,000 fishermen. We have examined 
the internal economy of a codfish, which contained in its stomach no less 
than eleven full grown herrings." 



112 EEPOKT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

Professor Hind's umvarranted statements. 

155. A voice of warning comes to us from tbe provinces. Professor 
Hind writes : " It is not the fishermen alone who diminish the value of 
the waters of the United States as food producers, it is the agriculturist, 
the manufacturer, and the lumberer. If the supplies directly or indi- 
rectly ai^brded by British-American coastal fisheries were suddenly anni- 
hilated, the effect of the inquiries instituted under the direction of the 
United States Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries would be at once 
diverted against the fish-oil and fish-guano manufacturers as well as the 
lumbering and other interests, which have so diminished the anadromous 
species and destroyed the cod-fisheries on the New England coast. 
What with the ravages of the bluefisli and the demands of the industrial 
interests named, the drain upon the United States Avaters is far beyond 
the natural resources of the limited area in which the cod, the hake, the 
halibut, and other deep-sea fish are sought. Hence recourse must be had 
to British-American waters or the open sea remote from the coast of 
the United States, and bait must be obtained to secure remunerative 
fares. Without this bait the fishery would be commercially impossible; 
with -it, it becomes not only renumerative, but permits those special 
fisheries which have fish-oil and fish-guano as their object to go on with- 
out that legislative interference which would otherwise be invoked by a 
powerful interest contemplating impending ruin and discerning its 
cause.''* 

Comment is unnecessary. The facts above stated alone are a suffi- 
cient commentary. 

Protective legislation in Maine. 

156. As this memoir goes to press, the question of legislative restric- 
tions of the menhaden fisheries is being agitated in Maine. One of the 
valuable results of this discussion has been the publication of Mr. Mad- 
dock's report upon "The Menhaden Fishery of Maine," which is intended 
to counteract the statements of the advocates of more stringent laws. 
The proposed law is intended to prohibit fishing with seines in waters 
within three miles of the shore. Mr. Maddock's remarks, quoted below, 
seem very sensible and temperate, and I am prepared to indorse them : 

"In fact, where all the data point to the conclusion that the menhaden 
while ou our coast are being destroyed by predaceous enemies in greater 
numbers every day than by man with all his appliances in a whole sea- 
son, it would seem sheer unreason to establish a petty restriction of the 
catch lest the stock should be ultimately exhausted. 

"No other State will be guilty of such folly, even if we should allow 
our own to be. The effect of restricting the fishery, as referred to, would 
be to drive the oil and guano manufacture and those engaged in it out 
of the State, with all their capital and equipment, and to extinguish the 
industrial activities set in operation by their business. The time for 

*IIiND, oj). cU., p. 142. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 113 

restriction will be when restriction has been shown to be needed. Other 
States have made a trial of the interference policy in this same matter 
and have abandoned it as uncalled for and unwise. 

" The complaint that the seiues ' scare' the edible fish from the interior 
waters may be dismissed as too trivial for notice. If the limited opera- 
tions of seining- inshore scare the fish out, much more should the far more 
extended operations outside scare them in. The same weight is to be at- 
tached to the charge that the seines injure the shad fishery by cai)turing 
the fish. The total number of shad caught by all the members of the Oil 
and Guano Association combined does not amount to over two hundred 
barrels per year. Salmon are never caught in their seines." 

I.— THE MENHADEN^ FISHEEIES. 

28, — The fishing GRorNDS. 

Tlie location of the fisliing grounds. 

157. As has been already indicated in the description of the migra- 
tions and movements of the menhaden, there are certain portions of the 
coast which tbey frequent more certainly and constantly. These are 
m'arked upon the map accompanying this memoir and may be designated 
as (1) the Booth Bay Region, (2) the Cape Ann Eegion, (3) the Cape Cod 
Eegion, (4) the Narragansett Bay Eegion, (5) the Long Island Sound 
Eegion, (7) the Sandy Hook Eegion, (8) the Chesapeake Eegion, and (9) 
the Hatteras Eegion.* 

Bearing in mind the fact that the menhaden is fond of shallow, brack- 
ish waters while the mackerel is not, it is quite curious to remark that 
their favorite haunts are much the same. Both species are caught most 
successfully in the great, partially- protected indentations of the coast. 
Whether it is on account of the calm waters, the abundance of food, or 
the detention of the schools in these great '•' pockets," as they may be 
called, is not apparent. Perhaps all have their influence, probably the 
latter has the greatest. 

In these localities, at different seasons of the year, the fisheries can 
be most successfully carried on, and here only can they be made profit- 
able. 

29. — Methods of capture. 

Past and present methods contrasted. 

158. Twenty years, ago when the menhaden fisheries were of very 
small importance, the business of manufacturing oil and guano being 
still in its infancy the only use for the fish was as a fertilizer in its raw 
state. This demand was easily su[)plied by the use of seiues and gill- 
nets along the shore, for at that time the habits of the fish were prob- 
ably very different. They swarmed our bays and inlets, and there is 
quite good authority for the story that 1,300,000 were once taken with 

* Plate XI. 
8 F 



114 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

one haul of the seiue iu New Haven Harbor.* Constant fishing on the 
northern coast has driven the menhaden out to sea, though iu the south 
their habits are much the same as of okl. In NewEngland the menha- 
den fishery has become to a considerable extent sea-fishing, and is prose- 
cuted on the grandest scale. 

Estimates of numbers of vessels and fishermen hy collectors of customs. 

159. Under the statistics of manufacture will be found the statements 
of the manufacturers in reference to the number of vessels and men 
employed by them. It may not be out of place here to give a corre- 
sponding estimate on the part of the collectors of customs and others in 
connection with a general statement of the location and methods of the 
fisheries. The manufacturers' enumeration excludes the vessels engaged 
in catching the menhaden for bait, but is, as far as it goes, probably 
more nearly correct than any other, the laws of registration being so lax 
that many fishing-vessels do not appear upon the custom-house books. 

FisJieries of Maine. 

160. Mr. William H. Sargent estimates for the district of Castine, Mo., 
about 20 decked vessels and 150 open boats. The vessels range from 15 
to 80 tons. The number of men employed (probably including the 
factory hands) is about 425. 

For the district of Belfiist, Mr. Marshall Davis estimated in 1873 about 
25 vessels with 125 men. In 1877, according to the same authority, there 
were about 100 boats owned by line fishermen, each of which uses from 
three to six gill-nets. 

Mr. Benjamin F. Brigbtman, collector of customs at Waldoborough, 
Me., gives 51 gangs of 10 to 12 men each. This district includes the 
region between the Penobscot and Kennebec Eivers, where all the large 
f^ictories are located. The vessels in this region are steamers, schooners, 
and sloops of from 20 to 100 tons. This estimate is for 1873 and refer- 
ence to the report of the Maine Menhaden Oil and Guano Association for 
the same year shows that these gangs include 55 vessels, 17 of which 
were steamers and 533 men. The number of men for 1874 is 551. More 
than half of these gangs are fitted out in Ehode Island. 

For the town of Booth Bay, in this district, Mr. G. B. Kenniston esti- 
mates 21 gangs and 210 men. 

Mr. J. Washburn, jr., collector of the Portland, Me., district, gives an 
aggregate of 110 vessels with 500 men, but this estimate evidently in- 
cludes parts of other districts. 

*Mr. Arthur T. Neale, of the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, tells me 
tbat lie has talked with one of the fishermen concerned iu this famous haul. There 
was no accurate account of the numbers and the catch was variously estimated at from 
1,00U,000 to 1,300,000. Numerous carts were employed for three days iu carrying the 
fish from the shore and finally a large part of the fish were allowed to escape. 



HISTOEY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 115 

Fisheries of Massachusetts. 

IGl. Mr. F. T. Babson, of Gloucester, Mass., states that iu his district 
are 40 vessels employ iug -100 meu aud a capital of $200,000. Iu this euu- 
meratiou are included at least four steamers belouging to Judsou Tarr & 
Co., of Tlockpoit, which are used for their factory in Bristol, Me., and 
I^erhaps others. The remaining vessels are schooners of from 20 to 70 
tons, which are wholly engaged iu taking fish for bait. Fisheries oi 
some importance are carried on at the mouth of the Merrimack Eiver. 
They are described under the section relating to boats. 

Mr. Simeon Dodge, of Marblehead, Mass., reports "no large vessels em- 
ployed" in his district, though small boats fish for menhaden to be used 
for bait, and Mr. E. B. Phillips makes the same report for the vicinity 
of Swamps30tt. 

Mr. Thomas Loring, Plymouth, Mass., says that in his district no ves- 
sels are wholly employed in this business; a few menhaden are caught 
for bait in gill-nets. 

Capt. Hermann S. Dill, of Billingsgate Island, writes that for about 
three weeks, in the fall when menhaden are fat, 12 or 15 men aud one or 
two small vessels are employed iu catching them in Welllieet Bay. A 
few are caught from dories. 

About the extremity of Cape Cod very slight attention is paid to the 
menhaden. Capt. David F. Loring, keeper of Highland Light, North 
Lynn, Mass., writes under date February 23, lS7o: "I believe the fish- 
ermen in this vicinity have an idea of going into the business quite ex- 
tensively the coming season." He probabl}^ refers to the business ot 
catching the fish for bait, which would naturally prove very profitable 
iu the neighborhood of a great fishing center like Provincetown. 

At Chatham, on the heel of Cape Cod, according to Cajit. Josiah Hardy, 
2d, in Chatham Bay, there are 13 weirs, but no vessels are employed in 
taking the menhaden. ^^ 

From iS"antucket, Mass., Mr. Beuben C. Kenney, collector of customs, 
reports that sail-boats of 5 tons burden are employed in setting the 
gill-nets, of the proceeds of which about half is used for bait, the other 
half sent to factories upon the mainland. 

In the vicinity of Hyannis, Mr. Alonzo F. Lothrop, keeper of the 
light, states there are no menhaden fisheries. 

Edgartown, Mass., and the Island of Martha's Vineyard employ no 
vessels in this fishery. Mr. C. B. Marchant, collector, writes that largo 
numbers are taken iu the pounds, and are sold for bait. 

Fisheries of Rhode Island. 

162. In Narragansett Bay, according to Mr. Church, abo-ut 10 ganps 
and 100 men are employed. Nearly 30 gangs fit out for the fisheries in 
Maine, and these usually seine Narragansett Bay for a short time, 
spring and fall. 



116 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISF AND FISHERIES. 

No vessels are engaged in the meubaden fisberies at New Sborebam, 
E. I. (Block Island), nor in the vicinity of Point Judith. 

Fisheries of Connecticut. 

163.. In the vicinity of Fisher's Island Sound, according to Capt, Will- 
iam H. Potter, of Mystic, Conn., there are employed 14 large boats and 
3G small, and about 240 fishermen. There are 14 gangs working be- 
tween the Thames Eiver and Stonington, Conn. 

Between the Thames and the Connecticut, Capt. S. G. Beebe states 
that tbere are 8 sloops of about 20 tons, each carrying about 10 men. 
Luce Bros., of East Lynne, have 1 steamer, 9 sloops, 48 fishermen, and 
40 factory hands. 

Mr. R. E. Ingham, of Saybrook, Conn., thinks that between Saybrook 
and New Haven there are em])loyed about 14 vessels and 80 men, but 
this estimate is undoubtedly too great. 

In Western Connecticut, according to Mr. G. W. Miles, there are 
employed 7 gangs, with 21 sloops and 230 men. Mr. P. Lillingston, of 
Stratford, puts the figures at 30 sloops and 300 men. 

Fisheries of New YorJc. 

1G4. For the Eastern District of Long Island, Mr. W. S. Havens 
estimates 60 vessels and 540 men. Captain Sisson, for 1873, put it at 105 
vessels and 400 men; in this estimate he probably includes the lighter 
boats. 

Hawkins Brothers, of Jamesport, N. Y., employ 110 men, 50 of whom 
are factory workmen. 

The Sterling Company, of Greenport, N. Y., employ 3 gangs, consist- 
ing each of 8 men, 2 boys, and a cook, working from 3 yachts and G 
lighters. 

Mr. Joseph D. Parsons, writing from Springs, Suffolk County, New 
York, December 10, 1877, states that in that vicinity 43 vessels and 175 
men are employed in the menhaden fishery. 

At the entrance to New York Bay and off Sandy Hook the fish are 
taken for the sardine factories, small sailboats of about 10 tons being 
used. 

Fisheries of New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland. 

165. In the vicinity of Little and Great Egg Harbor, New Jersey, Mr. 
A. G. Wolf, keeper of Absecum light-house, states that there are 10 
vessels and 40 men employed ; this includes the gill-net boats of 4 
and 5 tons, sloops, schooners, and one steamer of about 15 tons. This 
perhaps includes the Somers Point Oil Works, where, according to Mr. 
Albert Morris, there is a gang of 9 men with 3 vessels. 

In Delaware Bay there are no menhaden fisheries, though many of 
these fish are taken in seining for other kinds. 

In Chesapeake Bay no effort is made to take them in quantity except 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 1 1 7 

in Tangier and Pocomoke Sounds, where, according to Mr. Hance Law 
son, of Crisfield, Md,, there are employed 5 vessels averaging about 15 
tons each and 5 oared barges. Small numbers are taken in gill and 
trap nets at other points. 

Fislieries of Virginia and North Carolina. 

16G. In the inlets of North Carolina no menhaden are taken in quan- 
tity. 

The Quinnipiac Fertilizer Company, of New Haven, inaugurated men- 
haden fishing in North Carolina and Virginia in 1S6G. Their prospect- 
ing party i)assed the winter in Eoanoke Sound and established weirs 
for the capture of menhaden, which were there very abundant. They 
were, however, driven away by the natives, whose jealousy of strange 
fishermen led them to tear up their weirs. They then located themselves 
near Cape Charles. Four companies established factories here — one 
from Maine, one from Long Island, and two from New London. They 
found the fishery very good, although the fish produced little oil, and 
were only adapted for the manufacture of fertilizers. The laws of Vir- 
ginia do not encourage the inauguration of such enterprises by stran- 
gers, and the following year it was thought unadvisable to continue the 
business. 

Since 1873 several stock companies have been organized, under Vir- 
ginia laws, for the purpose of carrying on the menhaden fisheries in the 
Chesapeake, and their success is well assured. Although the oil is not 
l^roduced in great quantities, there is sufiicient to pay the cost of man- 
ufacture, thus leaving a clear profit in the scraps. 

Fisheries in the South. 

1G7. At Cape Hatteras and in the five adjacent townships there are, 
according to Mr. Simpson, 200 boats and about 500 men. None of these, 
however, make a special efibrt to capture the menhaden. 

In the rivers near Beaufort, N. C, they are taken in small quantities 
in gill-nets worked from open boats and canoes. 

South of Beaufort, N. C, the menhaden has no statistical importance. 
They are sometimes caught incidentally in the shad and mullet nets of 
the Saint John's Eiver, Florida, but, as in the Potomac, they are con- 
sidered by the fishermen to be useless annoyances. 

30. — Apparatus or capture. 

The purse-sei7ie. 

IGS. The purse-seine is doubtless more effective than any other fish- 
ing apparatus ever devised. By its use a school of almost any size may 
be secured without the loss of a single fish. The enormous demands of 
the oil factories can be met only by fisheries conducted on the grandest 
scale, and the purse-seine is used by the factory fleets to the exclusion 



118 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

of all other uets. la the vicinity of Gloucester, where meuhaden are 
caught for bait, the purse-seiue is also used. It need only be said that 
it is an immense net, which when in use is a flexible wall of twine, sus- 
pended by its upper edge, extending from 90 to ISO feet below the sur- 
face, and from 800 to 1,500 feet long. This wall is made to encircle the 
lish and then its lower edge is gathered up by a rope passing through 
rings prepared for the purpose. The seine when pursed becomes essen- 
tially a huge dip- net, from which the lish may be taken at the pleasure 
of their captors. 

The purse-seiue is said to have been invented about the year 1837 by 
a native of Maine, who had been for some years employed as a hand on 
a Gloucester fishing-smack. He conceived the idea of capturing mack- 
erel in large numbers, and invented a seine which is substantially the 
same as that now in use. Finding the Gloucester fishermen unwilling 
to experiment with bis new apparatus, he carried it to Ilhode Island, 
where it was first put into use in the vicinity of Seaconuet for seining 
menhaden. 

The first seine used north of Cape Cod was introduced in the year 
1850 by Capt. Nathaniel Adams, of Gloucester, in the schooner " Splen- 
did." Capt. Nathaniel Watson, of the " Eaphael," began using one the 
same year.* 

The early seines were about 200 yards in length, 22 fathoms in depth, 
and of 2.5 inch mesh, there being about 350 meshes in the bunt of the 
seine. The twine used was much heavier than that used in the present 
seines, and the whole net weighed six or seven hundred pounds. The 
present seine, however, did not come into general use, as I am informed 
by Mr. Marchant, of Gloucester, until about 1800. 

During the last eight years there has been greater change in their 
size than during the ten years previous. In 1889 the nets were IGO 
fathoms in length, 700 meshes deep, the meshes being 2J inches, and 
would weigh about 400 pounds, being made of No. 9 twine (Hadley 20). 

Fishing in deeper water began in the years from 18G9 to 1872 ; and 
since that time a gradual increase has taken place in the size of the nets 
corresponding to that which has already been described in the case of 
the seine-boats. The popular size for seines in 1877 is 200 fathoms in 
length, 1,000 meshes deep, the mesh being 2 and 2^ inches, those in the 
bunt being sometimes finer, the twine heavier. They are made of No. 
G twine (Hadley 10), and weigh about 700 pounds. The largest one 
known to Captain Marchant is 247 fathoms long, and weighs about 
1,000 pounds. 

In order to understand the method of working a purse-seiue, it is 
necessary that the manner of " hanging it" should be described. At 
the top of the net is the cork-line, upon which corks are placed at dis- 
tances apart of from 12 to 15 inches; two corks are usually put together 
(which are designated in trade as numbers 2 or 3), and are 4 inches in 

" Mr. Maddocks states that tbo first purse-seiue was used ou Chelsea Beach. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 119 

diameter. There is no lead-liue, properly speaking, though light weights 
are placed upon the bottom lino of the seine, near the ends, about 1 ounces 
in weight, about 60 pounds in all, four inches ai)art at the sides, and far- 
ther apart near the middle. Sometimes twelve rings are strung close 
together so that they touch. The rings through which the pursing rope 
passes are almost heavy enough to render other weights unnecessary. 
The lower edge of the seine is hung on six-thread manilla rope ; to this is 
attached a series of so-called bridles, these bridles being 3 fathoms in 
length and placed 3 fathoms apart. Upon each of these bridles slides an 
iron ring weighing 1^ to 2^ pounds and 3^ inches in diameter; through 
these rings runs the purse-line. The average weight thus placed upon 
the bottom of the mackerel-seine is about 220 pounds; this, however, 
includes special leads put on at the ends of the seine, 55 to SO pounds of 
lead being thus distributed in leads of one-eighth to one-quarter to one- 
sixth of a pound in weight. Upon the menhaden-seine about 35 pounds 
of lead is considered sufiBcient. In operating this seine a large heavy 
weight, called by the fishermen of Gloucester a purse-weight, by those of 
Southern New England " Long Tom," is used, which is placed upon the 
vertical ropes at the end of the seine by the use of snatch-blocks, and 
is allowed to run down to the bottom of these ropes, thus fastening 
securely together the ends of the so-called lead-line before the operation 
of pursing begins. The mackerel-seine is usually arranged so tliat when 
it is pursed there are large triangular flaps of netting hanging at t!ie 
end and closing the opening. This is accomplished by allowing the 
purse-lines to pass obliquely from the last purse-rings, which are placed 
at the distance of about six feet from the ends of the lead line. In 
mackerel-seining these are not, by all fishermen, considered necessary, 
as the mackerel do not, like the menhaden, strike for the bottom of the 
net when they find themselves inclosed. This weight weighs from GO 
to 120 pounds, and varies somewhat in shape ; the usual form is figured 
in plate XIV. Some seiners now use two smaller weights, one upon 
each line. The best fishermen prefer to use the weight, and by this 
method the largest fares of fish are taken. 

The seines used by the menhaden vessels are smaller than mackerel 
seines, although the latter are frequently used in this fishery, especially 
near Gloucester. 

From the letters of onr correspondents it appears that the length of 
menhaden seines varies from 100 to 300 fathoms, and their depth from 
10 to 25 fathoms. Some seines, 50 fathoms long and 5 fathoms deep, are 
mentioned, but these must have been exceptionally small. 

In early days, it is said, a mesh of 4J inches was used. In 1873 
Maine fishermen preferred a mesh of 3^ inches. From 1875 to 1877 a 
still smaller mesh was employed. The seines now in use in Connecticut 
have a mesh of 2^ inches (that is, Ir^ inches square, or 1:^ "bar-"'); they 
are 130 fathoms long when "hung," or 200 fathoms "straight twine" or 
stretched as they leave the factory, and 15 fathoms deep. They are made 



120 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

of small cotton twine (l^o. 20 to iN'o. 12 thread), except in the middle, or 
"bunt," which is knit of stronger twine (Xo. 14 to No. 9 thread), to hold 
the fish when they are gathered into a small compass. They weigh 000 or 
700 pounds, and cost not far from $1,000 when ready for use. On the 
coast of Maine they are larger, being commonly from 225 to 275 fathoms 
long and 20 fathoms deep in the middle, tapering to 14 fathoms at each 
end.* 

The American Net and Twine Company supjilies the Maine fishermen 
with seines usually 250 fathoms long and 20 or 25 fathoms deep, those 
of Southern New England and New York with shorter ones, usually 150 
fathoms long and 15 to 20 fathoms deep. 

The steamers of the Pemaquid Oil Company carry each two seines ; a 
long one and a short one. The long seines are about 9,500 meshes long 
and G50 meshes deep (size of mesh 3J inches), and when rigged are from 
280 to 300 fathoms long, and 15 to 17 fathoms deep. The shallow-water 
seines are from 7,000 to 7,500 meshes long and 500 to 550 meshes deep 
(size of mesh 2J inches), and when rigged are from 170 to 180 fathoms 
long, and 8 to 10 fathoms deep. Each steamer emi)loys from 12 to 15 
men, including captain, mate, engineer, fireman, cook, and sharesmen, 
and is supplied with two large working boats from 22 to 82 feet long, as 
well as tv/o small boats, — "drive boats," — which are rowed by the men 
who drive the fish into the seine. 

The three sloops of Gurdon S. Allyn & Co. carry seines 200 fathoms 
long and 580 meshes {2^-inch mesh) deep. 

Gallup & Holmes use seines of B-inch mesh, 9,200 meshes in length 
and GOO meshes deep, with shallower seines for shoal water. 

The three steamers of E. T. De Blois carry seines 300 fathoms long 
and 17 fathoms deep. 

The two sloop-yachts of William T. Fithian & Co., Napeague, N. Y., 
carry seines about 160 fathoms long and 15 fathoms deep. 

The three sloop-yachts and two steamers of Hawkins Brothers, James- 
port, N. Y., carry seines from 100 to 130 fathoms in length and of 2J-inch 
mesh. 

Luce Brothers, of East Lyme, Conn., use seines 150 fathoms long and 
18 fathoms deep. 

The seines used by the Sterling Company of Greenport, N. Y., are 125 
to 150 fathoms long and SO to 100 feet deep. 

The seine-hoats. 

1G9. The boats used by the Gloucester fleet in the purse-seine fishery 
are built after a peculiar model and solely for this purpose. The present 
form of the seine-boat was devised, about the year L857, by Messrs. Hig- 
gins & Gifibrd, boat-builders, Gloucester, Mass. The seines had pre- 
viously beeu set from square-sterned lap-streak boats, about 28 feet in 
length, and resembling in shape an ordinary ship's yawl. 

* Boai'dmau and Atkius, 02). cit., p. 23. 



HISTORY OP THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 121 

The seine-boat as now in use resembles tbe well-known whale-boat, 
differing from it, however, in some important particulars. 

The seine-boat, according to Mr. Gifford, must have three qualities: 
(1.) It should tow well; consequently it is made sharpest forward; a whale- 
boat, on the other hand, is sharpest aft, to facilitate backing after the 
whale has been struck. (2.) It should row well, and this quality also is 
obtained by the sharp bow ; the whale-boat also should row well, but 
in this case it has been found desirable to sacrifice speed in part to the 
additional safety attained by having the stern sharper than the bow. 
(3.) It should be stiff or steady in the water, since the operation of 
shooting the seine necessitates much moving about in the boat. 

The Gloucester seine-boat of the present day is a modification of the 
old-fashioned whale-boat, combining the qualities mentioned above. 
The average length of such a boat is about 34 feet, its width 7 feet 5 
inches, its depth amidship 33 inches. At the stern is a platform, meas- 
ing about 4 feet, fore and aft, on which the captain stands to steer: this 
is G to 8 inches below the gunwale. Another platform extends the 
whole length of the boat's bottom, from the after part of which the 
seiae is set. In the bow is still another platform, on which stands the 
man who hauls the cork-line. There are four thwarts or seats, a large 
space being left clear behind the middle of the boat for the stowage of 
the seines. Upon the starboard side of the boat, near tbe middle, is 
arranged an upright iron support, about 18 inches in height, to which 
are attached two iron snatch-blocks used in the working of the purse 
ropes. Upon the opposite side of the boat, generally near the bow and 
stern, but with position varied according to the fancies of the fisherman, 
are fixed in the gunwale two staples, to which are attached other snatch- 
blocks used to secure additional purchase upon the purse-ropes. In the 
center of the platform at tlie stern of the boat is placed a large wooden 
pump, used to draw out the water which accumulates in large quantities 
during the hauling of the seine. The steering rowlocks, with the peculiar 
attachment for the tow rope and the metallic fixtures described above, 
are manufactured especially for seine-boats by Messrs. Wilcox & Crit- 
tenden, Middletown, Conn.* 

Until 1872 the seine-boats were always built in the lap-streak style ; 
since that time an improved form of smooth-bottomed boats, built with 
battened seam set-work, sheathed inside with pine, and with oak frame 
and pine platform, has been growing in popularity. The advantages 
claimed for this boat by the builders are: (1.) Increased speed; (2.) 
greater durability, on account of the more solid character of the wood- 
work and tighter seams; and, (3.) less liability to catch the twine of the 
nets by reason of the smooth sides. It is not so stiff' as a lap-streaked 
boat of same width, but in other respects superior. 

Since the general adoption of the purse-seine, in the menhaden and 
mackerel fisheries, an account of which is given elsewhere, there has 
* Tiie Cape Auu seiue-boat, with all ita attachmeuts, is illustrated in Plate XV. 



122 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

been a gradual iucrease from year to year in the size of the seine-boats, 
keeping pace with a corresponding iucrease iu the size of tbe seices. 

lu 1857 all boats were 28 feet in leugtb. Iu 1872 the length had in- 
creased to 30 feet, and in the summer and fall of the same year an ad- 
ditional foot was added to the length. In 1873 almost all boats which 
were built had a length of 31 feet; a few of 32 aud 33. In 1874 almost all 
were 33 feet, as they were during 1875 and 1876, although some were 
made 35 and 36 feet. In 1877, 34 feet is the most popular leugth, though 
one or two 3S-foot boats have been built. Seven, eight, or nine oars, 
usually 13 or 14 feet in length, are used in these boats, besides a 
steering-oar of 16 or 17 feet. 

These boats last, with ordinary usage, six or seven years. At the close 
of the fishing season they are always taken ashore and laid up for the 
winter, iu a shed or under trees, and are completely refitted at the be- 
ginning of another season. 

The seine-boats, carried by the "menhaden catchers" south of Cape 
Cod and by all the steamers, are shaped like ships' yawls, square-sterned, 
smooth-bottomed, and batten-seamed, 22 to 26 feet long and 6| feet 
beam; they are built at Kew Bedford, New London, Greeuport, and 
at Mystic Eiver, and cost about $125 each, the finest $185. The l^cw 
Bedford boats are preferred by many fishermen. 

When boats of this model are used every gang has two, each carrying 
three men aud half of the seine; this arrangement leaves one of the crew 
upon the sloop and two in the lighter. On the coast of Maine, a man 
is usually sent out iu a dory to drive the fish. 

The Cape Aun fishermen stow their seines in one boat, and in shooting 
tbe seine one end of it is carried in a dory. 

The Cape Ann dory is 15 feet long on the bottom, 19 on top, 5 feet 
2 inches beam amidshipe, 21.5 inches deep, 36 inches high at the stem, 
34 inches at the stern, 2 feet 10 inches wide at bottom of stern. These 
dories are built with considerable difference in their "sheer," those used 
on the shore having a straighter bottom than those used in the Bank 
fisheries. The boats used on the seine fisheries are generally of an inter- 
mediate form. 

Messrs. Iliggins & Gififord manufacture an improved pattern of dory 
(patented January 2, 1877), for which they claim the same advantages 
already mentioned under the description of the seine-boat. They are 
built of pine, with oak -timber gunwales, stem and stern. There are 
four boards upon each side fastened in battened set-work. The gun- 
wales are whole instead of being bent and capped. They have no pro- 
jecting stem-head, iu this respect also differing from the old form.* 

The sailing-vessels and steamers. 

170. Small schooners and sloops were used in the early stage of the 
business, these succeeded by larger, and these to a great extent by 

* Tlio Cape Aun dory is illuBtruted iu Plate XVI, fig. 1. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 123 

steamers, of which there are now about sixty, er.ch from GO to 150 feet 
in length, and costing from $7,000 to $40,000. The advantages of steam 
are too obvious to need special notice, such as dispatch, economy of 
time and labor, etc. With the advent of steam-vessels, larger factories 
with more ample equipment become a necessity in order to utilize the 
augmented supply. The first factory had the capacity to work up 500 
barrels per day. The larger factories can now take 3,000 to 4,000 bar- 
rels daily. At the outset 4,000 barrels per steamer was a large catch to 
each fishing " gang." Now the average catch per steamer is 10,000 bar- 
rels, and 20,000 barrels are not unprecedented.* The Pemaquid Oil 
Company employs several vessels in shipping oil, and in carrying the 
dried scrap to England. t 

Description of steamers. 

171. The average burden of the menhaden-steamers is about 60 tons. 
They are built of hard pine, with white-oak frames, with a water-tight 
tank in the middle in which the fish are stowed. This tank is said to 
make the vessels exceedingly safe, enabling them to float when their 
planking is badly injured. The steamer "Jemima Boomer,'' owned by 
Joseph Church & Co., while at sea in rough weather had 50 feet of her 
keel knocked out, together with eleven of the bottom jilanks. She was 
taken upon a marine dock without sinking. Each steamer carries from 
twelve to fifteen men, who live in the forecastle. | 

Mr. George Devoll, of Fall Eiver, Mass., describes his steamer, the 
" Chance Shot." It is 39 tons in burden, G8 feet long, and 18 feet wide, 
and 5 feet in depth of hold. Its carrying capacity is about 700 barrels 
of fish. The consumption of coal is about one ton daily. The cost of 
running is about $8 per day, including coal, oil, and the wages of the 
engineer. The crew are employed on shares, each man paying his own 
board and running his chance. The boat and seine draw one-half of 
the profits, and the gang half — the gang paying provision-bills and 
cook's wages. There are seven men in the gang besides the cook and 
the engineer. 

A model of the fishing steamer " Leonard Brightman," owned by Jo- 
seph Church & Co., of Bound Pond, Me., was exhibited in the United 
States Government building in Philadelphia and is now deposited in 
the National Museum. The steamer " Seven Brothers," also owned by 
Joseph Church & Co., was the first steamer built for and used in this 
fishery. 

31. — Certain requirements op purse-seine pishing. 
Methods of handling the net. 

172. Much care and expedition are necessary in l^audling a purse- 
seine full of fish. In the event of a very large draught, if the fish are 

* Maddock's Menhaden Fishery of Maine, p. 15. 

t Appendix I, contains a partial list of vessels employed in the menhaden fishery. 

X Plates XVII and XVIII show the menhaden-steamer and its i)lan of arrangement. 



124 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

left ill tlie net too long they are tilled by the confinement and close 
pressure, and sink. In such a case the only alternative offered the fish- 
ermen is to cut open their seine. Sometimes the dead fish carry the 
net with them to the bottom. When there are more than enough fish 
in the seine to fill the vessel to which it belongs, and there is danger 
that they may be lost, other vessels which are near often take the sur- 
plus fish. In such a case, writes Mr. Babson, one-half the value of the 
fish is paid to the captors. 

In calm or moderate weather, fishing is carried on from dawn till 
dark, though morning and evening seem most favorable. In rough 
weather the nets are not easily set, while the fish usually swim farther 
from the surface and cannot be seen. Cold northerly and easterly 
winds seem to affect the fish, causing them to sink toward the bottom. 
Southerly winds seem the most propitious. 

Mr. Dudley states that in the fall, during the southward migration, 
the fish play at the surface with a northwest wind. 

The best time for seining. 

173. The early morning is apt to be the stillest part of the day, and a 
large part of the fish are taken at th^t time. 

So far as I can learn, the motions of the fish are not particularly affected 
by the tides, except that, like other Cliqieidw, they prefer to swim against 
strong tides and winds. An impression seems to hold among the fish- 
ermen that rather better success attends fishing on the flood- tide. This 
is no doubt the case where gill-nets are in use, for in localities where the 
fish have not been frightened off shore by constant fishing they like to 
I^lay up into coves and bays with the rising tide, and are then easily 
taken by the giU-nets and the pounds or weirs. 

Where the purse-seines are worked in deep water off' the shore, as on 
the coast of Maine, little attention need be paid to the tides; but where 
they are used in bays or channels where the tide has much head, there 
is a practical difficulty in using them except at or near the time of slack 
water. In a swift current the seine is liable to accidents from being 
caught OQ rocks or other obstructions, or may be capsized or pulled out 
of position. In Narragansett Bay, the difficulties of this kind appear 
to be particularly great. According to Mr. Church it is not uncommon 
for a gang to work all day without success, their net being capsized 
every time it is set. 

32. — Descriptions of fishing scenes. 

Menhaden fishing in Southern Neic England. 

174. The first time the writer ever saw menhaden-fishing was in 
August, 1874, when cruising off Watch Hill, Rhode Island, in the Fish 
Commission yacht " Cygnet." Several trim-built sloops are beating off 
and on, within a mile of the rocks. That they are "bony-fish catchers" 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 125 

is evident from the two long boats which are towed astern, carrying 
the purse-seine, which looks like a bale of brown hay stowed in the 
middle of each boat. A man stands at every mast-head watching for 
the well-known ripple. A school passes under the bows of onr yacht 
and rises to the surface at a short distance, the bright sides of the fishes 
glistening in the sun and their tails filliping the surface noisily. The 
sharp eyes of the " lookout " of the nearest vessel soon detects their 
presence. The sloop comes about and sails to the leeward of the school. 
As soon as they are near, three men jump into each boat. Two man 
the oars, a third stands in the stern and pays out the net, v.'hile the 
boats, rapidly diverging, are rowed around the fish, each describing a 
semicircular course. Now their courses converge and the men row 
faster. They come together and pass, thus closing the circle of net- 
work. The men all jump into one boat, the purse- weight, or " long Tom," 
as they call it, is hooked to the two lead lines, and a splash of water 
announces that it has been thrown overboard to slide down the ropes 
and draw the lower ends of the net together. Now they begin hauling 
at the bottom lines, and in ten minutes they have drawn the bottom of 
the net into a purse and the fish are secured. The "lighter," or trans- 
porting boat, now sails up. The men on board heave a line to the seine- 
boats and they are brought alongside. A large dip-net, three feet in 
diameter, is now suspended by a block and tackle in the rigging of 
the lighter, and the fish are rapidly transferred from the seine to its 
hold. The silvery masses of fish are hoisted into the air and dropped 
into the vessel, settling in the bins with a flapping noise like the sound 
of distant thunder or the hand-clapping of a large audience. 

In August, 1876, when on the steamer from Saybrook to Greenport, 
I saw a fleet of sixty vessels busily plying their nets in the sound near 
the mouth of the Connecticut. In the ev^eniug a gale sprang up from 
the southwest, and as the steamer entered Peconic Bay the little sloops 
were seen scudding to harbor' under low-reefed sails. Every wave 
swept the decks, but they floated like sea-birds. Some of them were 
loaded to the rail with fares of fish. 

Menhaden fishing about Cape Ann. 

175. We are indebted to Captain Babson for facts about the fisheries 
at Cape Ann, which are carried on for the purpose of securing bait for 
the codfish and mackerel fleets. Vessels for this business are fitted out 
from the port of Gloucester on the same basis as those for other fisheries. 
The owners furnish the vessel-outfits, seine and boats, the crew going 
"on the halves" ; that is, taking for their share half of the entire "catch' 
while the other half is claimed by the owners. A good vessel with 
boats costs about $5,000. A seine costs about $1,000, and with fair 
usage lasts through two seasons j it is made of cotton twine and pre- 
served by the use of salt and tar. The seine is carried on a small deck 
at the stern of the seine-boat, which is about 30 feet long and S feet 



126 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

wide aud is built on the plan of a whale-boat of the old style. Only 
one seiue-boat is used here, and on this the whole seine is carried, one 
end of the seine being taken by a "dory" with two oarsmen. 

The Cape Ann Advertiser reported in 1872 that the menhaden fishery 
was prosecuted by about 40 vessels from that port. 

Mr. Frederic G. Wonson, of Gloucester, states that the crew of a 
" pogie-catcher " consists of about 10 men, and that the cost of a three 
weeks' trip is about $400. 

Menhaden fishing in Maine. 

176. Mr. Church has furnished a very full account of the organization of 
crews on the seining- vessels. The largest steamers are 70 tons in burden, 
the smallest 25, the sailing-vessels about 30; these vessels are used for 
the men to live on, and tenders are employed to carry the fish to the fac- 
tories. These tenders have an average capacity of 250 barrels, though 
recently they are built of a larger size, soOiC carrying 600 barrels. Be- 
sides these there are the "purse" and " mate" boats from which the seine 
is worked. These are 28 feet long, 6 feet wide, and 2 deep. The sailing- 
vessel has a cook who manages the vessel while the crew are working the 
seine. Each boat carries a "seine- setter" and two men to row. The 
captain of the gang is in charge of the "purse-boat," the first mate of 
the other, and in addition to these most gangs have a "fish-driver," who 
keeps close to the school in a small-boat and guides the gang in setting 
the seine. Some gangs have still another man, called the "striker," who 
is generally an apprentice learning the business and working at low 
wages. Four men to row, two to set the seines, and one (the cook) to 
manage the vessel, seven in all, are all that are really necessary for 
steamer or sail- vessel, the other functionaries being added as may be con- 
venient. "The seines are 280 fathoms long aud 100 feet deep. Oaehalf 
of the seine is put in each boat. The st.eamer cruises with men at mast- 
head looking for fish. When they raise a school they put what are called 
striker-boats on them. Each steamer has two, with one man in each ; 
they are men with sharp eyes, quick and active. They row close to the 
school of fish, observe its course, and then by signs they direct the purse- 
crew how to set their seine to catch them. If fish get scared, they drive 
them with white sea-pebbles which they carry in their boats. If the fish 
turn to run out of th-i seine, they throw the pebbles before them, and as 
they pass through thv^. water before them the fish turn and swim in ati 
opposite direction. After the fish are surrounded the purse-crew and 
strikers all work together to get the seine around them. It is different 
from sail-gangs in this, that sail-gangs hoist the fish by hand, aud have 
boats to take the fish from the fishing-grounds to market, while the 
purse-crew stay on the ground with a separate vessel. Steamers go on 
the ground, catch their fish, hoist them on board by steam, and when 
the day is done take them to market, aud the same men that catch them 
discharge them." A steamer has no tenders, and thereby saves much 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 127 

expense. A sail-vessel with a pursegacg of seven men requires three 
tenders, with a man to sail each of them, making ten men in all as 
sharesmen. The steamer dispenses with the three extra men, and in 
consideration of the expense of coal and machinery takes their three 
shares. This leaves the shares of the remaining men proportionally the 
same as on a sailing-vessel. 

Sail-gangs and steamers have gear jnst alike to catch the fish. It is 
not a sure thing to catch even when they see plenty of fish. A gang 
last year set nineteen times and did not catch a fish. 

A writer in the Boston Daily Advertiser newspaper of August 5, 
1875, states that persons chartering a steamer and sharing equally the 
I)rofits with its owner easily make from 81,000 to 83,000 in a season. 

Boardman and Atkins thus describe the methods in use about Booth- 
bay, Me., in 1874: 

" Attached to each seine is a gang of fishermen and boats. The ganf;s 
are described as ' sailing gangs' or ' steamer gangs,' according to the 
means of locomotion. A sailing gang comprises two working boats and 
a light row boat for the ' driver'; two carry-away boats, with a capacity 
of about 250 barrels each ; one vessel and- ten men in all. The working 
boats work the seine, the carry-away boats carry to the factory, and on 
the vessel the crew are fed and lodged. In a steamer gang, tlie vessel 
and the carry-away boats are replaced by a screw-steamer of 35 to 60 
tons (new measurement), and the number of men is reduced to nine. 
These steamers cost from 810,000 to 816,000 each, and will carry 800 
barrels of fish. They were introduced on the coast of Maine three years 
ago. The advantage of the steamer over the sailing gang is obvious. 
It is not dependent on the wind, and can proceed without loss of time to 
the place where the fish are playing. Of course they catch a great many 
more fish, but they are so much more expensive that they do not appear 
to be much more profit;ible. The seine gangs are always attached to the 
oil-factories, and the latter employ no other mode of fishing. Each fac- 
tory runs several gangs. 

" Let us now follow the process of catching the fish as practiced by a 
steamer gang. We will begin at the sailingof the gang from the harbor, 
some clciii" morning in August. The engineer bestirs himself and has on 
steam early enough to reach the fishing-ground about as early as the fish 
can be seen. The fishing-ground is just where experience, and particu- 
larly the experience of the last few days, dictates. Commonly it is out 
to sea. As soon as it is light a sharp watch is kept on every side. 
Wherever menhaden are seen, thither the steamer's head is pointed. 
Sometimes it is close by home, and sometimes twenty or thirty miles 
are passed over before there is a single school to be seen. On ap- 
proaching a playing school thej" always try to get on the outside of it, 
because the first movement of a school of pogies on finding themselves 
entrapped is invariably a rush seaward. The driver, in his swift row- 
boat, armed with a pile of stones, gets on the other side. Having 



128 EEPOET OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

divided the seiue between them, one end and half the seine being on 
each, the two working boats approach the school within a short dis- 
tance and endeavor to get in a favorable position. Sometimes a 
whole day will be spent in vain endeavors to get near swiftly moving 
or capricious schools. When the favorable moment comes the boats 
separate and row around the schools of fish, paying out the seino 
from each as they go. Meanwhile the driver, on the opposite side, 
throws stones at the timid fish and starts them in the directioi'i of the 
boats. At last the boats have encircled the fish, and meet on the side 
opposite to their starting point ; instantly the purse-lines are seized, and 
DO man stops to breathe until the bottom is pursed up. The crews exert 
themselves to complete the operation before the fish take the alarm, and 
many a time it happens that they pass out between the boats just before 
they meet, or under the bottom of the seine before the pursing is com- 
plete. The affrighted fish first, it is said, rush seaward. Finding them- 
selves shut in on that side, they turn and rush landward ; headed off 
there, they furiously follow the net around at the top of the water, some 
going this way and some that. Finding the circuit complete, they gradu- 
ally subside, and finally settle to the bottom of the bag. The seine is 
now drawn aboard the working boats until only a small portion of it is 
left in the water, and the fish brought in a compact body to the surface. 
The steamer is now brought alongside, and with a great tub holding two 
or three barrels, and worked by steam, the fish are rapidly taken on 
board. When everything works well it takes about two hours to catch 
and take on board a school of 500 barrels ; commonly it is longer than 
that."* 

GUI-net JisMnp in Eastern Maine. 

177. East of the Penobscot Elver, in Maine, most of the fishing is 
carried on with "float" or gill nets. These are knit usually of twine 
(size i^o. 12 to 14, 4 threaded), and of 3|- to 4 inch mesh, and are from 30 
to 180 feet in length and from 6 to 10 and 24 feet in depth; usually from 
12 to IS. Two men in an open sail-boat will, according to Mr. W. H. 
Sargent, of Castine, take care of a dozen nets. These nets are usually 
set in the night by being anchored in favorite haunts of the menhaden. 
When a school strikes the net large numbers of the fish are " meshed" 
by running their heads through the openings until they are caught by 
the gill-covers. According to Mr. Brightman, of W^aldoborough, the 
gill-netting in that vicinity is mostly done early in the season ; he states 
that this method of fishing is not nearly so productive as in former 
years, betters sometimes build a furnace for trying out oil on the deck 
of a small vessel, thus saving the trouble of transportation. 

Gdl-nets are also used about Booth bay in the early part of the sea- 
son, but not so much as formerly. The nets are made, according to Mr. 
Brightman, of fine cotton twine, about 4 inches mesh, 12 feet deep, and 
20 (athoms long. 

' Oy. cit., Pi). 24, :l'o. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 129 

Until the introduction of the purse-seine and its general adoption, 
about the year 1860, gill-nets were exclusively used. In the intermedi- 
ate time the stationary gill-nets were supplanted by sweep-nets, 
arranged by fastening together several small gill-nets. 

Weir fishing for menhaden. 

178. Weirs and pounds are never set for the express purpose of capt- 
uring the menhaden, but large numbers of these fish are taken in these 
traps. In Chatham Bay, Massachusetts, there are thirteen weirs of 
various lengths set in water from 2 to 5 fathoms in depth for the 
purpose of catching mackerel, sea-bass, and shad. Tlie average catch 
of menhaden for the past five years has been about 5,000 barrels, about 
half of which is sold for bait, the remainder thrown away. Goodale 
and Atkins state that on the coast of Maine there are a very few weirs 
built especially for the capture of menhaden ; two or three near Stock- 
ton, on Penobscot Bay, being all of which they have knowledge. Some 
are also takeu in the weirs built for salmon and alewives. The herring- 
weirs, on the other hand, are not adapted to their capture, their en- 
trances being so wide that the menhaden generally "play out" after 
once entering. 

On the eastern end of Martha's Vineyard are numerous i)ounds, ex- 
tending 1,200 feet and more from the shore, set for sea-bass, squeteague, 
scuppaug, and bonitos. Many menhaden are taken here, which are 
sold for bait. 

In the vicinity of Greenport, N. Y., '"longshore seines" are some- 
times used, though not so generally as in former years, when this was 
the usual mode of capture. 

Colonel Lyman on iceir fishing at Waquoit. 

179. Col. Theodore Lyman has given a very graphic account of the 
capture of bait menhaden in the Vineyard Sound : 

" The weir is hauled once a day, and always at slack water, because 
with a strong tide running east or west it is impossible to handle the 
bottom-lines. The men pull out in two i)arties, of which one in a large 
scow passes round the outside of the bowl, casting oft the bottom-lines, 
while the other in a yawl-boat pushes inside the bowl, pulls up the slid- 
ing poles, and closes the entrances. The slackening of the bottom- 
lines allows the bowl-net to hang free, and the crew inside begin to 
haul up the bottom of this net in such a way as to work the fish toward 
one corner, letting the net as it comes to the surface pass under their 
boat, which is thus slowly drawn across the bowl toward the corner 
where the capture is to take place, and where the scow is already wait- 
ing outside. 

'' The scene now becomes an exciting one. The menhaden in thou- 
sands begin to show the sharp upper lobes of their tails above the water j. 
9 F 



130 EEPOET OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

here and there darts a feverish mackerel like a blue and silver flash ; 
great leathery skates, looking like pigs rolled out flat, raise their snouts 
in slow astonishment ; here a shark suddenly works his way through 
the crowding mob; hundreds of goggle-eyed squid, smothered in the 
press, feebly ply their force-pumps; and there the murderous blnefish, 
undismayed by imminent death, glares fiercely and snaps his savage 
jaw to the last. All these, with flat-fish, sea-robins, butter-fish, and 
many more, are taken and rolled in a fluttering mass iridescent with 
changing colors, and shower their silver scales high in air. It moves 
even the wear-men, in their oil skin clothes, with a slight excitement as 
they cull out from the menhaden the choice and the offal fishes. There 
is Uncle Abishai smiting sharks with a spear, like so many Sauls, and 
he smiteth them not twice, and Captain Ed'ard endeavoring with a 
swift scoop-net to capture a dodging shad, because Mrs. Asa has 
boarders and needs a fish for dinner ; and Captain Charles, with the air 
of one who gets a toy for a good child, diligently striving after some of 
them 'ere striped robins that the professor wanted. All this is strange 
and entertaining even to a commissioner, who, by the motion of a long 
swell and the evil piscatory odor, is somewhat aiflicted with what the 
local satire terms ' white-ears.' And now the menhaden, bushels on 
bushels, are scooped all quivering into the great scow, for a little outside 
lies a mackereler who has just let go her anchor with a rattle, and a 
boat is pulling in with the skipper to buy bait. ' What you got,' cries 
he, in an indifferent tone. ' Menhaden,' retorts Captain Warren, as if 
speaking of a new and scarce fish. (A pause.) ' I don't know but I 
might take a few barrels if they was low,' says the skipper. (No reply.) 
'What do you want for 'em?' 'Eighty-five cents,' shouts Cai)tain 
Warren, and then {sotio voce), 'I don't believe he's got a scale.' At 
this answer, the man of mackerel pushes over the tiller and steers off 
indignantly; but presently pauses, 'Give you sixty five, for seventy 
barrels.' ' Seventy-five cents is the lowest,' replies Captain Warren. 
'Call it seventy cents for seventy-five barrels.' 'Waal! Waal!' And 
by this time the scow is full, and the weir-meu pull for the vessel, whose 
numerous crew is ready to hoist the bait on board and salt it down. 
They stand with knives, barrels, and chopping-blocks, and rapidly cut 
off the heads and tails of the fish, and the thin parts of the sides, then 
give a gash in the shoulder, and throw them into the barrel for salting. 
A mackereler will take as many as 120 barrels of such bait, which is 
minced fine in a hand-mill and thrown over to toll the fish. 

" JMany years ago, when mackerel were cheap, the younger ones, called 
'No. 3s,' were laboriously chopped up with a hatchet and thrown over as 
'chum.' When mackerel became dear, especially during the war, the* 
No. 3s were too valuable to be thrown away, and cheaper material, such 
as menhaden, was resorted to."* 

*Aun. Kei). Coiuuiissioncrs ou lulaud Fialieries, for the year eudiug Jauuary 1, I87"2i 
pp. 24, 25. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 131 

Fatbaclc fishing in North Carolina. 

180. At Cape Hatteras, according to Mr. A. W. Simpson, two kinds 
of nets are used in the capture of the "fatback." The " drag-net" is 
from 75 to 100 yards long, and 25 to 37 meshes deep, with a mesh of 
from IJ to 2 inches. The lead line is provided Avith heavy lead sinkers, 
the cork line with floats made of gum-tree roots. The "set net" 
(which like the preceding is made of gill-twine No. 25 or 30, and five or 
six strand cotton cord made of No. 10 cotton) is from 35 to 45 yards 
in length, 18 to 20 meshes deep, the mesh being the same as in the " drag- 
net." Instead of a lead line is used a heavy cotton cord which has been 
dipped in pine tar and rolled in a bed of pebbly sand until a sufficient 
quantity is fastened to it to weight the bottom of the net. Such a net 
is called a " fly-tale," and is set at night on the playing ground of the 
fish, with both ends made fast. To work these nets canoes are used, 
ranging from 16 to 30 feet in length and 3^ to 7 in beam ; two men are 
required for a small canoe, three for a large one. The fish are taken 
mostly on the flood-tide. When fishing with the drag-net, moderate 
weather is preferred ; with the gill-net, a light wind, as the fish run 
most in windy weather. The fishermen do not make a special business 
of catching the menhaden, but are on the lookout for all kinds of fish. 
Purse-nets have been used about Cape Hatteras, but without very great 
results. 

In the rivers near Beaufort, N. C, according to Mr. Davis, the fat- 
backs are taken in gill-nets about 50 fathoms in length, and 50 or 60 
meshes deep, the meshes being 1^- to If inch in dimension. Nets which 
are partially worn out are generally used, the fishermen having an idea 
that the slime of the fatback ruins a net so that it cannot be used after 
the first season. The nets are worked from open boats and canoes car- 
rying from 10 to 25 barrels of fish. Two men and a boat are necessary 
for each net. In making what is called a " drop," from four to six boats 
join their nets and surround the school. The fish, getting confused, 
mesh themselves and are easily pulled in wi-th the net, and are then 
disentangled. From two to four hours are necessary for each haul, and 
one haul will generally fill the canoes. Two loads can be taken in a day. 

33. — The relation of the menhaden fishery to the fisherbien 

AND the maritime VILLAGES. 

181. On the coast of Maine, according to Mr. Maddocks, "the catching 
of menhaden is a favorite occupation with fishermen. The steamers 
return every night if they have any fare, and are hardly ever absent 
more than two or three days. Operations are suspended in bad weather. 
The oil is manufactured at once, and meets a ready market. The men 
can thus be promptly paid ; whereas in the mackerel and cod fisheries 
the hands are obliged to wait until the end of the season for settlement, 
the service is.dangerous, and comparatively full of hardships, the Men- 



132 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

liaden Association has never lost a man in its service, and not one of 
the steamers has ever burst a boiler. This is the more important since 
the cod and mackerel fisheries have been and are grievously oppressed, 
and greatly reduced by the tariff regulation that admits English fish 
free to our markets. The Englishman can build his craft at less cost 
than the American, can fit and equip her cheaper, and can therefore 
afford to sell his fish at a lower figure than the home fisherman; and at 
the same time he pays none of our taxes while enjoying the benefit of 
our market. The menhaden fishery has afforded no little relief in this 
condition of things to the unemployed fishing population on our coast 
and elsewhere." 

182. Mr. Maddocks g^ives a very interesting picture of the influence of 
the menhaden fishery upon the population ot the neighboring shores. 

In the villages of Boothbay, Bristol, Bremen, and East Boothbay, the 
centers of the menhaden fishery on the Maine coast, the number of 
dwellings has doubled in the past few years, and all the outward signs 
of thrift, of enlarged comfort and abundance manifest themselves. The 
companies engaged in the menhaden business pay in the aggregate a 
handsome per cent, of the annual taxes of the towns in which they are lo- 
cated. The oil companies of Bremen pay over one-fourth of the total tax 
of the municipality. The oil-factories of Boothbay have, since they were 
built, paid an amount of tax equal to two-thirds of the war debt of the 
town. The Bristol factories pay one-eighth of the town tax. The indi- 
rect contributions of the business to the public treasury, by promoting the 
building of houses, vessels, &c., have been very considerable. All the 
money made has been spent on the spot, where it is open to taxation. 

"About $60,000 worth of cotton twine is used yearly in the menhaden 
fishery of Maine for the manufacture and repair of seines. Quite a 
number of hands, men, boys, and girls, are employed in this work. The 
seines are of course made by machinery. Ten thousand tons of coal are 
consumed for various purposes, and 40,000 bushels of salt." 

A correspondent of the "American Agriculturist" states in that pa- 
per* that the proceeds of" the menhaden fishery and industry between 
New London and Stonington in 1872 amounted to $113,000, which was 
distributed along the coast of 12 miles on the north side of Fisher's 
Island sound. The business gave employment to over 200 men at the 
factories, and indirectly to as many more, besides the business of freight- 
ing the products. 

34. — Protective legislation. 
Laws of Maine. 

183. The legislative acts relating to the menhaden fishery in Maine 
are summed up as follows : 

Sec. I, chap. 313, Public Laws, 1865, provides as follows : 

"No person shall set or use any seine within three miles of the shore 

* American Agriculturist, 1873, vol. XXXII, p. 139. 



HISTORY OP THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 133 

iu any waters of this State, for the purpose of taking menbadeu or por^ies; 
but a net of no more than one hundred and thirty meshes deep shall not 
be deemed a seine." * * * * * * 

The penalty for violation of this act was fixed at "not less than four 
hundred nor more than one thousand dollars, and the forfeiture of all 
the vessels and apparatus employed." 

By the act of February 21, ISGG, chap. 30, Public Laws, the penalty 
for violation of the law was reduced to "not less than one hundred nor 
more than five hundred dollars," and the number of meshes deep in- 
creased to one hundred and forty to constitute a seine. 

The act of February 27, 1809, chap. 36, Public Laws, repeals the fore- 
going, and re-enacts it in substance with various modifications. 

The legislature of 1870 re-enacted the above with fuller details as to 
the collection of penalties, &c. Chap. 120, Public Laws, 1870. 

In the revision of the statutes in 1871 the above act was consolidated 
into one section, sec. 54, chap. 40, Revised Statutes, 1871, which still 
retained the three-mile restriction, and the penalty of one hundred to 
five hundred dollars for each violation, and a forfeiture of all equipment 
employed. 

Chap. 211, Public Laws, 1871, approved February 27, 1871, repeals 
the above sec. 54, chap. 40, of the Revised Statutes. 

Laws of Massachuseits. 

184. ■The folio wing. acts have been passed by the legislature of Massa- 
chusetts : 

"AN ACT to protect the meahadea fishery in the towns of Duxbury, Plymouth, and 

Kingston. 

''(Ch. 85.) Section 1. Be it enacted, Every person who shall, between 
the first day of May and the first day of November, inclusive, in each 
year, deposit the offal or waste dressing of the menhaden fish upon the 
shoi'es or flats, or throw the same into the waters of the bays, harbors, 
rivers, or creeks of the towns of Duxbury, Plymouth, or Kingston, 
shall, for each and every offense, forfeit and pay a sum not exceeding 
fifty dollai's, one-half to the complainant, and the remainder to the town 
within whose jurisdiction the offense was committed, to be sued for and 
recovered in any court competent to try the same, on complaint of any 
one of the selectmen, or any legal voter of either of the towns of Dux- 
bury, Kingston, or Plymouth. 

"Sec. 2. Any boat, craft, vessel, or fishing apparatus used by persons 
violating the provisions of this act, may be seized and detained not 
exceeding forty-eight hours by the selectmen of either of the towns 
aforesaid, in order that the same, if need be, may be attached or arrested 
by due process of law, to satisfy said fine with costs. 

" Sec. 3. This act shall take effect from and after its passage." — [April 
24, 1857. 



134 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 
"AN ACT regulating the seining of menhaden in the rivers of the commonwealth. 

"(Ch. 52.) Section 1. Be it enacted, The mayor and aldermen of any 
city or the selectmen of any town situated upon or adjacent to any river 
in which the seining of the fish is now or may hereafter by law be pro- 
hibited, may, upon the petition of twelve or more legal voters, and after 
due notice and hearing thereon, grant permission to such persons, upon 
such condition and with such restrictions as they may see fit, to seine 
menhaden therein, if, in their judgment, the same is consistent with the 
public good: Provided, however, That in all cases where two or more 
cities or towns are situated upon such waters and interested in said 
fishery, no action shall be had except upon petition to each of them, and 
by their concurrent vote. 

"Sec. 2. If any person so licensed shall exceed in any manner the 
terms of said permission, or violate any of the conditions thereof, he 
shall be subject to the same penalties as would attaeh to seining without 
such license. 

"Sec. 3. Such license may be altered or revoked at any time, by the 
concurrent action of the municipal authorities granting the same." — 
[March 15, 1858. 

"AN ACT relating to the taking of menhaden in the waters of Buzzard's Bay and Vinc- 

y.ard Sound. 

[1856, ch. 176. Additional act, 1870, ch. 249.] 

"(Ch. 212.) Section 1. Be it enacted, From and after the passage of 
this act it shall be lawful for any person to take menhaden by the use 
of the purse-seine, so called, in the waters of Buzzard's Bay or of Vine- 
yard Sound, or the waters of any bays, inlets, or rivers bordering on or 
flowing into the same : Provided, That no authority shall be hereby given 
to use any such seine at the mouth of any river where there now is or 
where there may hereafter be a herring fishery established by law, un- 
til after tlie fifteenth day of June, in each year : And provided further, 
That no authority shall be hereby given to use any seine in the waters 
around Nantucket or the islands belonging thereto." — [May 9, 1865. 

In the report of the commissioners of inland fisheries for 1877, p. 65, it 
is stated : 

" Fishing with seines in the Merrimac, at the season when the menha- 
den stand in, is forbidden by law. The mouth of the river has, however, 
never been defined by the governor, as permitted by statute ; and it was 
represented to the commissioners that valuable menhaden fisheries ex- 
isted in this neutral ground of brackish water. Therefore, under the 
personal promise of the fishermen to capture no shad or salmon, and 
with the guarantee of responsible persons in l!few bury port, the commis- 
sioners agreed to defer the definition of the river-mouth, and to assume 
that these menhaden were not positively included in the river proper." 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 135 

K.— ECONOMICAL VALUE AND APPLICATION. 

35. — The menhaden as a table-fish. 
Its use in afresh state. 

185. In many parts of the United States menhaden are in favor as 
table-fishes. When perfectly fresh they are superior in flavor to most 
of the common shore-fishes, but if kept they soon acquire a rancid and 
oily flavor. The Maine fisherman finds his breakfast of fried pogies both 
substantial and palatable. I can testify from personal experience that 
a bony-fish chowder is not to be despised. 

They are often eaten in the vicinity of Newburyport, under the name 
of " hardhead shad." They are considered more palatable than the 
early runs of the river shad. 

I am indebted to Mr. Baruet Phillips, of the New York "Times," for the 
information that in 1813, during a season of scarcity, large numbers of 
moss-bunkers, both fresh and smoked, were consumed in New York City. 
It does not appear probable that they were ever extensivel3' used for 
food except in seasons of scarcity. 

Professor Gill, writing in 1856 of the fishes of New York, remarks 
that moss-bunkers appear in the markets in the fall months, but in small 
quantities. 

Storer remarks* that the fishermen who supply Boston market with 
codtish set their nets about the outer islands in the harbor each night 
as they come up to the city, and examine them in the morning as they 
go out for the day's fishing. Large numbers of menbaden are thus 
taken, frequently one hundred barrels at a haul, and such as are not 
used for bait are sold to the poorer classes for food, at about C^ cents 
l^er dozen. 

The Kev. A. W. Church, editor of the Middletown (Conn.) "Constitu- 
tion," informs me that the moss-bunker is a staple article of food among 
the people living on the sea-coast of New Jersey in the vicinity of Bricks- 
burg, Somers Point, etc., and ten or fifteen miles inland. Every family 
makes a practice of salting down a barrel or two for winter use. They 
are preferred to any other fish which can be taken in that vicinity. 

In the fall and winter the alewife is in good demand on the shores of 
Chesapeake Bay. In November and early part of December, 1874, I 
frequently saw twenty or thirty strings on the tables in the Washington 
fish market and they seemed to meet with a ready sale at 40 cents a 
string, a price nearly as high as that of striped bass, the favorite fish 
in Washington. 

At Cape Hatteras the winter fish are in demand and are salted in 
quantity for summer use. In 1873 they sold for $7 a barrel. The sum- 
mer fish are used only as fertilizers. 

* Hist. Fish. Mass., p. 15'J. 



136 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

The abundance of bones and tbe oily flavor have given rise to a preju- 
dice against the menhaden as a food-fish, which the oil factories on the 
coast have done much to confirm. Still the fish is not unpalatable, and 
is capable of much valuable service in the capacity of a table-fish. 

Its use salted. 

186. For many years salted menhaden have been shipped from Glou- 
cester to the Westlndies and Guiana, to serve as food for the negroes upon 
tbe plantations. These fish are not carefully prepared, but are chiefly 
the surplusage of the bait supply remaining in the hands of outfitters 
of fishing vessels at the close of the season. They sell for about $2 per 
barrel. Mr. F. W. Homans ships from 1,500 to 2,000 barrels annually 
to Surinam. These would weigh from 300,000 to 400,000 pounds, and 
be worth in the aggregate some three or four thousand dollars. Other 
individuals doubtless dispose of their refuse stock in the same manner. 

Capt. Moses Pettingell, of Newburyport, informs me that about the 
year 1840, and before, large quantities were annually salted down in 
Newburyport, to supply a regular market in the West Indies. Salted 
menhaden were found to meet with a readier sale than salted mackerel, 
since, while little inferior in quality, when well prepared, they could be 
sold at a much lower price. 

In the " Topography and History of Wareham," 1815, it is stated that 
the inhabitants of Wareham and Plymouth were accustomed to vote to 
allow a certain number of barrels of alewives to be taken annually 
from the brooks within town limits, and that "menhaden were also 
taken in quantity at Wareham and barreled for exportation in former 
years.'" * 

It is stated by the editor of Forest and Stream t that some Brooklyn 
people have a patented process for extracting the bones and superflu- 
ous oil from the menhaden or moss-bunkers, hitherto useless as food, 
and then salting the fish, which they claim are fully equal to No. 3 
mackerel. Thus all parts are utilized. 

Salt maclcerel at times replaced by menhaden. 

187. The inspection returns of Massachusetts show a curious relation 
between the annual returns of salted menhaden, alewives, shad, and 
mackerel. An examination of the table given in Appendix G shows 
that an eflbrt was made during the season of scarcity in the mackerel 
fisheries to supply the demand by the use of menhaden. 

The question of draichacic on salt. 

188. Capt. Fitz J. Babson, collector of customs for the port of 
Gloucester, states that the question yearly comes up as to whether the 
menhaden fishermen are entitled to privileges under the law granting 

* Collections | of tbe | Massachusetts | Historical Society | j vol. iv. | of the 

second series, | Boston : | printed MDCCCXVI | : p. 284. 
t Vol. II, 1874, p. 215. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN "MENHADEN. 137 

drawback on salt used in pickling, nets, and fish. This discussion brings 
on the question whether menhaden are or are not " food-fishes." The 
decision has usually been made that they are food-fishes. 

36.— Food preparations derived from menhaden. 
The manufacture of sardines. 

189. On the coast of Kew Jersey, near Port Monmouth, are several 
factories, which carry on an extensive business in canning menhaden 
in oil and spices. One of the largest of these is that of the American 
Sardine Company, a rei)reseutatiou of which is given in Plate XXIV. 
Mr. F. F. Beals, of i^ew York, gives the following description of the 
methods in use in this establishment: 

" We aim to have cur catch of moss-bunkers in by 6 or 7 o'clock n.m., 
as the fish seem to be strongly impregnated with phosphorus and soon 
spoil m warm weather. As soon as the fish are lauded, we put our entire 
force of men to cleaning, cutting, and scaliug, for which we have 
machines adapted. When the fish are cleaned, they are at once put in hogs- 
heads, and salted just sufficiently to keep and to remove their extreme 
freshness. They are then packed in cooking cans, which are a little 
larger than the packing cans, and put into the tanks, where they are 
steamed for the space of about two hours. After the fish are taken out, 
they are placed in the regular market cans, which are then laid upon zinc- 
covered tables, where they are filled with salad od. They then go to the 
tinners, who solder on the lids, after which the can is again steamed and 
vented, and passed up into the cleaning and labeling room. Each day's 
work is lulled up separately, each can being thoroughly tested to see that 
it is perfectly air-tight. For this we have an experienced hand. Kot a 
can is packed until it has stood for at least a mouth. At the expiration 
of this time, after being again tested, the cans are packed in wooden cases 
containing two dozen each, and are then ready for the market. As we 
make all our tin cases, we are able to secure good results, and it is a 
rare occurrence to have a swollen can. If there is one, it is at once 
thrown aside. 

"Oar company was incorporated April 21, 1871, under the laws of the 
State of New York. Seeing the magnitude of the sardine busmess on the 
other side of the Atlantic, we were impressed with the idea that there 
was a large field for operations in this country alone. We at once set 
about toflnd a fish which would supply the place of the European sardine. 
After many experiments, we at last found one to suit the purpose, viz, the 
moss-bunker, and commenced a series of experiments to find a means of 
extracting or softening the bones without the use of acids of any kind. 
After over a year of experiment, we at last found the desired process, 
which we secured under United States letters patent, dated ]\Iay 21, 1872. 
This process consists of varous modes of steaming untU the bones become 
so soft that they can be eaten, like the flesh of the fish, without the 
slightest inconvenience. The two first years most of our time was con- 



138 EEPORT OF COmSiISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

sumed in experimenting, so that it was not until a year ago that we 
really commenced to manufacture, though prior to that we put up some 
goods. Last year, 3873, we packed and sold about 30.000 dozen whole 
cans or boxes. We have now capacity to turn out double that amount 
and we expect to be obliged to do so, as our trade is rapidly increasing. 
Our goods have received various awards, including a medal of merit at 
Vienna in 1873, and a silver medal at Bremen in 1874." 

During the season of 1877, the works of the American Sardine Com- 
pany were not in operation. Mr. Beals, the secretary, informs me that 
the manufacture will be pressed strongly in 1878. 

The qualities of American sardines. 

190. Many persons are incredulous with regard to the possibility of 
manufacturing sardines of good quality from the menhaden. It need 
only be said that they have been carefully tested by many unprejudiced 
judges in the city of Washington, and that the verdict has always been 
that they were almost equal to French sardines of the best brands. 
There can be no reasonable doubt that if olive oil of good quality were 
to be substituted for the cotton -seed oil now used in the preparation of 
American sardines, they would be fully equal to similar articles imported 
Irom abroad. 

The American sardines should be carefully distinguished from the 
sardines prepared at Eastport, Me., fiom young herrings; they are 
sealed up in tin cases imported ready-made from France, and are put 
upon the market in the guise of foreign goods — a misrepresentation 
which is not at all necessary, since they are quite as good as the articles 
with which they profess to be identical. 

Menhaden preserved in spices. 

191. There are other establishments near Port Monmouth which pre- 
l^are menhaden in spices and vinegar under the trade names of "Shad- 
ine," "Ocean Trout," aud "American Club-fish." I have been unable 
to obtain statistics of this branch of manufacture. Hoope & Coit, of 
New York, contributed samples of these preparations to the Centennial 
collection of the United States Fish Commission, and I suppose this 
firm to be engaged in the manufacture. 

"Eussian sardines" are prepared at Eastport, Me., from the herring,, 
and are branded with spurious names and labels imported from Germany. 

Mr. Barnet Phillips describes, in the New York Times, a visit to the 
"ocean-trout" manufactory at Port Monmouth. He writes: "If the 
name of the salmonidw be taken a little in vain, the trout manufactured 
out of moss-bunkers are by no means to be despised. "Ocean trout" 
may not be the garum cooked with Tragasoeau salt, but is a fair fish- 
food and as an alimentary substance is in good demand. The process 
of manufacture is simple. The fresh fish are scaled by machinery, by 
means of a revolving wheel, are then cooked in steam, packed into 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 139 

boxes, which boxes have a cover put ou tbeai perforated with a couple 
of holes. The box containing only the fisli is then plunged into a bath 
of pickle, where it remains until it fills itself, then the box, now full of 
fish and pickle, goes through a second cooking. When all hot, filled 
with steam, the two minute holes are closed with solder, a label is put 
on, and the moss-bunker, now metamorphosed into "ocean trout," instead 
of being turned into oil or being employed as a top-dressing for sterile 
soil, makes quite a delectable food, and doubtless today the advance 
of civilization in the United States is shown in remote portions of the 
country by cairns made up entirely of empty tin boxes once filled with 
edible moss-bunker. 

GoodaWs '■'■ Extract of fisli.^^ 

192. The Hon. S. L. Good ale, of Saco, Me. (secretary of the INIaine 
Board of Agriculture from 1856-1873), has iuven'ed a process by which 
the juices of the flesh of fish are extracted to form an article of food 
which promises to be of much commercial value. He writes : "Sometime 
since the idea was conceived by me and reduced to practice of concen- 
trating the juices of the flesh offish into a food extract. The attempts 
were successful and the product satisfactory, bearing close resemblance 
to Liebig^s extractum carnis, and possessing a like percentage of saline 
constituents and extractive matter, soluble in alcohol. My results thus 
far indicate that the more abundantly occurring Clupeidcc appear to be 
much better adapted to this use than any other fish yet tested, especially 
tlie menhaden and the herring, the latter having a more distinctively 
fish flavor, the former more nearly a simply rich-cooked meat flavor. 
The alewife I have not yet proved, but anticipate excellent results from 
its employment. 

"During the two seasons past I have worked a few barrels of men- 
haden at a time, at intervals of a fortnight or more, to see if the juices 
varied in flavor or richness. My apparatus is imperfect, and although 
the extract micst ho, judging from my former experience with beef 
extract, inferior in flavor to what it would be if prepared with a vacuum 
pan and all suitable conveniences, it is good enough to elicit many 
commendations. No one needs less than yourself to be told how great 
are the possibilities for this new project. From each barrel of menhaden, 
as taken, I get three pounds of extract when flesh alone is used and four 
pounds if the spine is retained in dressing. And my rejections yield 
just as much oil and scrap as any manufacturers get who treat them 
for this alone. The skins may be used to make glue. I remove them 
by scalding quickly, in either mode of dressing. The details of manu- 
facture are fully worked out. 

Considering the large amount of fish annually taken and hitherto 
treated for oil and scrap alone, the juices of which have been allowed to 
run back into the ocean as a worthless by-product, I cannot avoid the 



140 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

conclusion that a new source of food is within reach, which at no distant 
day may contribute materially to human welfare." 

Mr. Goodale exhibited specimeus of the extract of fish at the Inter, 
national Exhibition in Philadelphia. 

The writer has had an opportunity of testing the qualities of the prep- 
aration and can testify to its agreeable flavor and manifestly nutritive 
properties. Two tablespoonfuls of the jelly dissolved in hot water yield 
a large dish of savory soup, most closely resembling the potage consomme 
of the French cooks. 

Professor S. W. Johnson, of Yale College, wrote to Mr. Goodale : " 1 can- 
not doubt that the fish extract is entirely new, and as food or stimulant 
is equal to beef extract in all respects (except xjossihly in the matter of 
iron*), and if put into the market in the proper shape would shortly 
share tbe patronage now so largely bestowed on beef extract, &c." And 
again : " 1 find your extract of fish both by actual use and by chemical 
analysis in all res[)ects equal to the best Liebig's extract of beef. 

Mr. Frederick Law Olmstead, of New York, wrote: "I have made a 
trial of your extract and find it more palatable than any beef extract I 
have used. ,It is not at all fishy, but I think it has a slight distinctive 
agreeable flavor which is also found in rich fish gravy. I am strongly 
disposed to regard it as a very important invention." 

The extract of fish has also been tested in hospitals in Portland, Me., 
and in New York City. Concerning the latter, Professor Johnson may 
again be quoted : " The fish extract was tried in this hospital. The 
I)hysicians consider it in no way inferior to Liebig's. It was not sus- 
pected by nurses or patients to be anything else." 

Possible yield of ^^ extract of fish.^'' 

193. Mr. Goodale estimates that the fish used by the factories in the 
towns of Bristol and Boothbay, Me., in 1873, 1871, and 1875, allowing 
the product to equal one-fifth of the weight of the live fish, would have 
yielded in either year upwards of a million of pounds, or five hundred 
tons of extract of fish. Carrying out the same calculation for the entire 
catch of the Atlantic States the potential yield of the menhaden fisher- 
ies would exceed ten millions of pounds. 

37. — Menhaden as food for animals. 
Menhaden scrap as food for cattle and ^poultry. 

194. At a meeting of the "Maine Board of Agriculture and Farmer's 
Convention " at Wiscasset, Mr. Wassou gave an interesting account 

* With regard to Professor Johnsou's suggestion of possible difference in contents of 
iron, I cannot speak confidently, but my impression is that this element occurs mainly 
if not wholly in the blood corpuscles ; that these are entangled m the albuminous 
constituent, as it coagulates in boiling and are removed in the serum which rises and 
is taken off, consequently that iron would not bo found in api^reciable quantity in 
extract made from either beef or fish. — S. L. Goodale. 

Professor Johnson's later analyses seem to confirm the impression of Mr. Goodale. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 141 

of the use of " porgy chum " as a food for sheep and poultry, stating 
that he had used it for five years. To j^repare it for food it is 
prepared by drying it in the sun for two days on elevated racks, thus 
expelling a large portion of the water. When thus dried it will keep for 
an indefinitely long period. Mr. Wasson had kept a quantity in an 
open barrel in his barn for at least five years. One barrel, costing $2, 
was sufficient to feed three sheep during the entire winter. Sheep thus 
fed showed an average increase each of one pound and a quarter of 
wool, while they were constantly fat and brought heavy lambs. Hens 
also ate the scrap with avidity. Mr. Thomas Boyd of Boothbay, stated 
that hensj ducks, and turkeys prefer it to corn, and become large and 
heavy when fed upon it. It is customary to discontinue the scrap and 
feed them on corn three or four weeks previous to killing them. Pro- 
fessor Charles A. White inquired in regard to its eifects upon the qual- 
ity aud flavor of tlie meat of animals fed with chum, stating that hogs 
fed in the acorn or mast region of the west do not make such firm sweet 
l)ork as those fed on corn. None of the members present were able to 
answer this question. 

Mr. Luther Maddocks, of Boothbay, a leading manufacturer, stated 
that if a demand should occur for scrap to be used as animal food, it 
could be so pressed as to retain only 25 per cent, of water, and in that 
form it would be more suitable for transportation. Ordinarly it con- 
tains about 50 per cent, of water. 

Apparently this subject deserves careful investigation. In the Nor- 
wegian J)epartment in Agricultural Hall at the International Exhibi- 
tion of 1876 were exhibited some biscuits made from "fish-flour," a 
preparation invented by the late Anton Eosing, a prominent agricul- 
tural chemist of Norway. These biscuits were in good condition after 
having been kept for ten years in an unsealed jar. They were intended 
to be applicable to the uses of soldiers, miners, and farmers, to whom a 
supply of fish, other than salted, is beyond reach. The editor of the 
American Agriculturalist suggests that a similar process might be em- 
ployed in utilizing the refuse of tbe oil manufactories as food for stock.* 
The proper preparation of this material for feed, either alone or mingled 
with bran, corn-meal, or other products of grain, would doubtless be a 
great economy, both for feeding and enriching the manure.t 

L.— THE MENHADEN AS A BAIT FISH. 

38. — The use of menhaden for bait. 

Menhaden as cod bait. 

195. Menhaden bait is extensively used in the cod and mackerel fish- 
eries in New England and the British Provinces. Its popularity is no 
doubt chiefly due to the ease with which it may be obtained in large 

* American Agriculturist, Vol. XXXV, 1876, p. 314. 

tThe value of menhaden as a food for animals is discussed more in detail by Profes- 
sor Atwater iu the succeeding part of this reiDort. 



142 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

quantity, though its oily nature and strong odor render it particularly 
well adapted for use as a toll bait for mackerel. " Slivered pogies " are 
carried by the " bankers " or vessels fishing for cod on the Newfound- 
land and George's Banks from the ports of Gloucester and Province- 
town.* According to Captain Atwood, salted menhaden are good bait 
for haddock but inferior for cod. On the Labrador coast the bait prin- 
cii)ally used is a small fish of the salmon family known as the capelin 
[Mallotus villosnsj large quantities of which are easily procured in those 
waters for a short period in the summer. The herriug {Clupea elongata) 
is the most commou bait in the Bay of Fuudy cod fisheries and it is 
also used by the English " bankers" to a considerable extent, as well as 
young mackerel. The English vessels also consume a large amount of 
"slivered pogies" which they bi.y from Massachusetts vessels. Fresh 
" slivers" are preferred to those which have been salted, and vessels 
bound to George's Banks usually carry their bait preserved on ice. 

Menhaden as maclcerel bait. 

196. Asa toll bait for the mackerel fishery, the menhaden is better 
than any other fish. The mackerel seem to prefer it, and the jjres- 
ence of a great quantity of oil renders it especially convenient for the 
use of fishermen, since a small quantity of ground menhaden bait will 
spread over a large area of water. 

The introduction of the use of menhaden bait. 

197. In early days it was the custom to grind up small mackerel for 
bait, much to the detriment of the fisheries in succeeding years*. Cap- 
tain Atwood remarked in his testimony before the Fishery Commission 
at Ilalifax : " We now use menhaden for bait 5 but when I first went 
fishing we did not do so. Our practice then was to grind up small 
mackerel for the purpose. Any quantity of these mackerel were at that 
time to be found along the coast and plenty of them are there to be met 
with now. These fish were of no account then, and so we ground them 
up for bait; and when we could not obtain them, we ground up for bait 
what you call gurry, the inwards of fish with the gills attached. Ameri- 
can fishermen, when they fish with hooks, use menhaden bait almost 
exclusively. The superiority of this bait over all others is such that 
when this fish can get menhaden they won't take any other. At first 
mackerel fishermen were afraid of this bait. It is a very hony fish, and 
they then thought that if it was cut up for bait, the mackerel would 
soon get sick of it, owing to the number of bones. There is a species of 
fish belonging to this family found on our coast which is exceedingly 
fat. We call them blue-backed herrings ; t and some preferred this fish 
for bait, as it was not so bony as the menhaden ; but when the poorer 

* Vessels also carry for bait " sca-clams " {Mactra solidissima) ealted, aud the common 
loDjT clam ( Mi/a orenaria). The former are preferred by vessels fisbing oif Block Island 
aud Nantucket to supply the New York market with fresh cod and haddock. They 
are sold at Nantucket at the rate of 30 cents a bushel 

tThe alewifo, Pomolohus pseudoharemgus. 



HISTORY OF THE AMEEICAN MENHADEN. 143 

mackerel got to be worth having, about everybody adoj)ted menhadeu 
for bait. It is the cheapest bait."* 

The comparative value of herring and menhaden for toll hait 

198. Mr. Sylvauus Smith stated before the Halifax Cominissiou : "All 
the bait used iu mackerel lishing consists of menhaden or porgy, wbich 
is only found off the coast of the United States, and wbich the Canadians 
bought from tbe American fishermen to a great extent" t 

Also to the same effect Mr. James G. Tarr: "The only bait used for 
mackerel is tbe porgy or menhadeu, which is found entirely in tbe 
United States, and wbicb all the Canadians have to buy liom tbe Ameri- 
cans in a salted state. Tbis fish (the porgy) is not found iu Canadian 
waters, and is almost the only bait used iu the mackerel fishery ; if tbe 
Canadians were unable to procure this bait, they would be compelled to 
use herring bait, which is much inferior ibr the purpose. * * * i 
have known vessels to sail from this port (Gloucester) with as many as 
300 barrels of porgy bait ou board, which was sold iu Halifax and tbe 
Straits of Causo to Canadian fishermen. * * * The bait which we 
buy from them for tbe cod-fishery consists of herring and some small 
mackerel."! 

John E. Saunders remarked: "Fresh herring is used by Canadians 
somewhat, but it is an inferior sort of bait, and tbej' much prefer men- 
haden when they can get it. * * * Canadians import menhaden 
bait from the United States to some extent ; the menhaden is not found 
north of Cape Sable." § 

Richard Hannan, of Gloucester, also stated : "1 have sold menhadeu 
bait to the Canadians, a few barrels each year; they import a great deal 
of tbis bait from the United States ; now by the treaty they can come 
here and catch this bait themselves. To my own knovvledge there have 
been two or three vessels here from Yarmouth and Argyle which came 
to catch i^orgies for use in the bay. || 

James G. McKeen, of Port Hastings, Nova Scotia, on the Strait of 
Canso, stated : " The bait chiefly used by American mackerel-fishing 
vessels is menhaden or porgies. These fish are taken. I believe, entirely 
on tbe coast of tbe United States, and mostly iu seines within three 
miles of the land, so I have been informed. British mackerel fishermen 
use the same kind of bait princiijally, and depend on the Uuited States 
for the supply. Clams are also used as bait for catching mackerel by 
both American and Colonial mackerel vessels, and they are obtained 
chiefly in tbe United States."^ 

George Critcbet, of Middle Milford, Guysboro County, Nova Scotia, 

* N. E. Atwood. Proceedings of Halifax Commission, Appendix L, p. 42, September 
19. 1877. 
t Affidavit 34. Proceedings of the Halifax Commission, 1877, Appendix M, p. 81. 
t Affidavit 3G, ojj. cit, p. 83. 
^ Affidavit 41, oj). cit., p. 86. 
II Affidavit 42, oj> cit., p. 86. 
H Affidavit 176, oiJ.cit., p. 195. 



144 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



stated : " The only bait used by mackerel fishers in the Gulf of St. Law- 
rence is clams and porgies, and that comes all from the United States."* 

Christopher Carrigau, of Lower Milford, ]S"ova Scotia, also stated that, 
he has been on two trips in the north bay in provincial mackerel vessels 
and that they used only clams and porgies for bait.t 

A similar statement was made by Martin Ryan, of Middle Milford, who 
had lished five seasons in provincial vessels, | and Philip Eyan of the 
same place, who stated that porgies and clams are universally used in 
the bay (Gulf of St. Lawrence), although a few provincial vessels may 
occasionally use herring. § 

Andrew Laurie, of Lower Milford, also stated that herring is only used 
as bait when the vessels of the provincial fishermen areout of porgies and 
clams, which are better, 1| and this was confirmed by Thomas England,^ 
Rufus Carrigan, ** and Charles Lowrie, tt of Milford, George Laidlaw|| 
and Iv. McDonald, of Low Point, Inverness County, Nova Scotia, who 
remarked : '* The only bait American mackerel vessels use is porgies and 
clams, and that is the bait nearly always used by provincial vessels, but 
sometimes the latter use herring, which is not a good bait and would not 
do at all to use as bait in fishing alongside of vessels throwing out 
porgies and clams. "§§ 

Daniel McDonald, also of Low Point, stated that " ten or twelve years 
ago or longer there were about 400 or 500 American mackerel vessels in 
the bay of Saint Lawrence, and during the same time there were about 
100 provincial vessels in the bay. The only bait used for mackerel, or 
almost the only, consists in porgies and clams, and these all come from 
the United States, whether used by provincials or Americans; a few 
English vessels use also a little fat herring, but this is used in quantities 
hardly worth mentioning." |||| 

James R. Maclean, a merchant of Souris, Prince Edward Island, called 
on behalf of the Government of Her Britannic Majesty, sworn and exam- 
ined, testified : 

" Question. With regard to the bait in use for cod-fishing and mackerel, 
where is it obtained ? — Answer. They very often use herring and some- 
times porgies. 

" Q. Where do they get the herring ? — A. They catch them around the 
coast and at Labrador. 

''Q. Are herring caught there? — A. Yes; there is a lot of herring taken. 

" Q. The differept fishermen — the large fishermen and the small fisher- 
men — don't they all catch their own bait? — A. Yes, with nets; and for 



* Affidavit 188, op. cit, p. 202. 
t Affidavit 189, ojj. cit., p. 202. 
t Affidavit 191, op. cit, p. 204. 
§ Affidavit 192, op. cit., p. 204. 
II Affidavit 19:5, op. cit., p. 205. 
H Affidavit 194, op. cit., p. 205. 



** Affidavit 195, ojj. cit., p. 206. 
tt Affidavit 197, op. cit., p. 207. 
It Affidavit 200, op. cit., p. 209. 
U Affidavit 201, op. cit., p. 210. 
nil Affidavit 202, op. cit., p. 210. 



niSTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 145 

mackerel bait they take capling — a very fat little fish — and they make 
out that it is a better bait for mackerel than porgies. 

" Q. But the large proportion of the bait is herring ? — A. Yes ; but they 
uso porgies, which they often buy for bait. 

"Q. To any extent"? — A. The vessels which go fishing generally buy 
them. They prefer herring when they cannot get porgies good. 

" Q. Where do ihey buy porgies ! — A. They generally buy them on the 
island, where they are imported. 

"Q. They buy them from the merchants'? — A. Yes. It woald not pay 
to send down to American waters to fish for porgies for the number of 
vessels engaged in mackerel-fishing. 

"Q. They prefer to take herring, to do that ? — A. Yes. * 

" Cross-examined by Mr. Dana : 
" Q. And your people are buying bait from the United States ? — A. 
They sometimes do so. 

"Q. You said that they very often bought pogies, which were used by 
your people ? — A. Yes. 

"Q. You mean menhaden — it is the same thing*? — A. Yes. 
"Q. Where do the merchants get their pogies? — A. From the States. 
"Q. Do you really suppose that the American fishermen, instead of 
buying menhaden from first hands, would buy them of your merchants, 
paying their profit, and commissions, and freight, and all that "? — A. Yes. 
I have seen these fishermen buy them when their own bait had turned 
sour or was bad. If the merchants have a quantity of good bait on 
hand, they can generally sell it. 

" Q. Is that considered an article of trade ? — A. Xo ; not to a great 
extent. 

" Q. Then the Americans get caught; their bait sometimes turns 
sour f — A. Yes. Consequently, of course, if out with other vessels fish- 
ing, a vessel having bad bait could not secure her share of the fish. 

" Q. Can they not catch something else to be used in place of it ; her- 
ring, for instance ? — A. Kot always. The mackerel-catchers could not 
wait for this. Their business is to catch mackerel. 

" Q. But they can obtain it at the Magdalen Islands ? — A. It would 
take too much time to cross at that point. 

" Q. Your own fishermen could not get across any sooner ? — A. Xo. 
" Q. If you could fit out a great number of large vessels for mackerel- 
fishing, 5'ou would want to import a good deal of this bait, pogies or 
menhaden, would you not'? — A. Yesj we would then, likely, import 
quite a lot of it. They could, however, use herring if no menhaden or 
poges were thrown into the fishing ground. Herring would do nearly 
as well. 
" Q. But the fish want something better. — A. Yes."t 
Mr. George Mackenzie, fisherman, of IS'ew London, Prince Edward 

* Proceedings of Halifax Commission, 1877. Appendix F, p. 24. 
Ubid., p. 29. 
10 F 



146 KEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

Island, witness called on behalf of the Government of Her Britannic 
Majesty, cross-examined by Judge Foster, testified : 

" Question. There is no mistake but what the American bait is a good 
deal better than any other ; there is no question about that ? — Answer. 
No ; it is always very well liked, but we have to pay pretty high for it. 

" Q. Do you buy it f— A. Yes. 

" Q. How much of it do you use ? — A. I used 20 barrels last year, and 
I bought 20 more barrels this year, at $o a barrel. 

" Q. That makes $100 spent for mauhadeu bait ? — A. Yes. 

" Q. Do you mix this bait with herring? — A. Yes; and sometimes we 
mix it with clams. At the latter end of the season it is that bait which 
we want. When the fish are poor almost any bait will do, but when 
they are in good condition they require good bait. 

" Q. When do you use herring bait f — A. In the spring of the year and 
July. 

''Q. Do you mix manhaden with if? — A. Sometimes. 

" Q. If it was not for its expensiveness, you would not use herrings at 
ain— A. No. 

" Q. Do you use mills to grind the bait? — A. Yes. 

" Q. And you mix the herrings and menhadens together? — A. Yes; 
and we also chop up clams with it."* 

And, again, James McKay, deputy inspector of pickled fish at Port 
Mulgrave, examined by Mr. Hanson : 

'• Question. On your different trips mackerel-fishing, what bait do you 
use? — Answer. Pogies. 

" Q. These are generally put up on the coast of Maine? — A. Yes. 

"Q. Where would you buy them if British vessels take them? — A. 
Our merchants used to import them from Portland, Boston, and Glou- 
cester. 

" Q. To Port Mulgrave ?~A. Yes. 

" Q. And sell them as articles of merchandise ? — A. Yes. 

"Q. They bought and sold them? — A. The same as a barrel of flour."t 

The testimony of Canadian officers. 

199. H. W. Johnson, of the Department of Marine and Fisheries, 
wrote, in 1808, a " Special Eeport on the, Distress among the Nova Sco- 
tia Fishermen." One of the reasons assigned by him for the failure of 
the fisheries is that " the pogies, the only real mackerel bait, is not 
caught east of Portland, and must all be imported for our fleet, the in- 
creased cost of which, added to the American duty, the fisherman has 
to pay on his share offish, besides charges of transportation, place him 
in the position that if he catches during the season, to his own share, 
forty barrels of mackerel in one vessel, he has not made as good a sea- 
son by about $100, gold, as if he had been in an American bottom."f 

* Proceediugs Halifax Commiasiou, 1877, Appendix F, p. 132. 
\IUd., p. 190. 
i Ibid., p. 67. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 147 

Capt. P. A. Scott, R. N., commanding the marine police of tke Domin- 
ion, reported, in 1870, to the Commissioner of Marine and Fisheries : 
"For mackerel-fishing the Americans use pogies and clams, chopped 
fine, as bait. The pogies are found only on the coast of the United 
States, and when imported into the Dominion cost about $G per barrel."* 

Capt. Charles G. F. Knowles, R. N., commanding H. M. S. " Lapwing,'' 
cruising on fishing-station Xo. 4, which includes the west coast of Cape 
Breton and the east coast of Prince Edward Island, reported to Vice- 
Admiral Fanshawe, November 7, 1870, iu these words : " The bait with 
which the Americans are supplied is far superior to any which can be 
procured in this country, to which may be attributed iu a great measure 
the success of the Americans previously to the recent restrictions, 
although, even now, the local fishermen complain that they have no 
chance while an American schooner is fishing near them."t 

200. Professor Hind, in his treatise on the Effect of the Fishery clauses 
of the Treaty of Washington on the Fisheries and Fishermen of British 
North America (part 1, p. 75), remarks that its value as a bait for cod 
is, iu a considerable degree, superseded by the herring; but as a bait 
for " tolling mackerel" it is still iu repute, although other fish, similarly 
treated and finely grouud, appear to be equally useful in this respect. 
The first part of this statement is undoubtedly true, at least as far as 
the fishermen of the British Colonies are concerned. In regard to the 
comparative value of herring and menhaden for toll-bait, there is still 
room for difference of opinion. 

An average of, perhaps, 250,000 barrels of mackerel is annually 
caught by the United States vessels, using menhaden bait solely, against 
110,000 caught by the i)roviucial fleet, which appears to use menhaden 
bait when it can be obtained, buying it at the rate of $6 a barrel in pref- 
erence to herring bait, which costs only the labor of catching and the 
salt for preserving. 

Slivering menhaden. 

201. The method of preparing menhaden for salting, to be used as bait, 
is very simple. The head of the fish is taken in the left hand of the 
workman, and with a knife held in the right hand he cuts a slice, longi- 
tudinally, from each side of the body, leaving the head and vertebrae to 
be thrown away, or, occasionally, to be pressed for oil. The slivers 
(pronounced slyvers) are salted and packed in barrels. The knife used 
is of a peculiar shape and is called a " sMvering knife." The operation 
of slivering is shown in Plates XXII and XXIII. 

The preparation of macJcerel bait 

202. The use of menhaden bait for mackerel-fishing was inaugurated 
in 1835 or 1840 ; the bait is ground up into a mush a nd salted, to be used 

* Third Report Commissioner Marine and Fisheries, 1871, p. 312. 
• t Third Report Department Marine and Fisheries, 187 J, p. 342. 



148 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

as a "toU-bait," and to be tbrovrn over tbe side of tbe smack to attract 
tbe scbool to the surface and to keep it alongside ; this is called "chum- 
ming up the fish," and the bait is called "chum" or " stosh." To prepare 
it for use the "slivers" are passed through a "bait-mill," which is a ma- 
chiuG like a farmer's feed-cutter; the fish are thrown into the hopper, 
from which the lish pass between a roller armed with small knives in 
rows, and a series of sim'ilar knives arranged along a board which slopes 
toward the bottom. The bait is usually ground at night, by the watch 
on deck; when the vessel has no "bait-mill," the fish are cut up with a 
hatchet or scalded with boiling water in a tub. Bait-mills were first in- 
troduced about the year 1824. In fishing for mackerel, one man throws 
over the bait while the rest ply their lines. " Toll-bait" is also used by 
the smacks, which use purse-seines and drift-nets, to attract the fish to 
the surface. 

The use of menliaden halt in the coast fisheries. 

203. Menhaden bait is also used in the coast fisheries for sea-bass, on 
the "bull-tows" or "trot-lines," and in the eel and lobster pots. They 
are not much in favor for the latter use, however, for the oil of tbe fish 
is thought to permeate the flesh of the lobster, imparting to it an un- 
pleasant flavor. '" 

Extent of hait-fishery in Neic England. 

201. Captain Babsou, of Gloucester, whose account of the bait-fishery 
of Cape Ann is quoted elsewhere, and to whom I am indebted for much 
other valuable information, informs me that there were over 60,000 bar- 
rels of " round fish " taken in his district in 1873. Vessels belonging 
to the companies of the Maine Oil and Guano Association sold in 1873 
for bait 2,977 barrels ; in 1874, 10,400 ; in 1877, 10,795. From the bait 
fisheries about Marblehead, in the vicinity of Provincetown, 1,000 to 
2,000 barrels were taken for bait in 1873, according to Mr. Loring. At 
Chatham, for the past five years, the average catch has been about 5,000 
barrels, a large portion of which are sold to the George's Bank codfish 
vessels, is^othing has been heard from the bait fisheries about Nan- 
tucket, which are, however, quite unimportant. 

A large part of the fish taken at Martha's Vineyard are used for bait ; 
in 1873 there were 5,000 barrels according to Jason Luce & Co. 

At Gloucester, according to ]Mr. Babson, the 00,000 round barrels of 
fish make 20,000 barrels of " slivers," worth $4 per barrel to the pro- 
ducer. At Marblehead, it averages $1 per barrel for fresh and $6 for 
salt; at Chatham, $1.50 fresh ; at Nantucket, 50 cents to 75 cents, and 
at Martha's Vineyard 50 cents, as I am told. In Narragansett Bay, ac- 
cording to Mr. J. M. K. Southwick, bait sold in 1871 for 81 and $1.50. 

Baitfishery in Merrimac Elver and Salem Harhor. 

205. Fisheries of some importance are carried on at the mouth of the 
Merrimac River. The menhaden thus obtained are used chiefly to sup- 



HISTOKY OF TEE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 149 

ply the Cape Ann fishing fleet with bait, although they are salted for food 
to a considerable extent. Ten seines and aboat seventy men are en- 
gaged in this fishery d wring its continuance, which is usually about one 
month — from the middle of June to the middle of July. The seiuea are 
100 to 200 yards long and 5 to 8 fathoms deep, requiring C to 8 men to 
manage them. The boats from which they are worked are light scows, 
about 25 feet in length, and 8 feet in breadth of beam. The seine is set 
from the stern of the scow, and is worked from the shore by means of 
long warps. 

Capt. Moses Pettingell, of Newburyport, to whom I am indebted for 
the above facts, tells me that the seine-gangs have occasionally taken 
2,000 barrels of fish in a single day. 

Boston and Gloucester vessels come to anchor at the mouth of the 
river and wait for their supplies of bait. At one time in 1877 there were 
25 fishing schooners waiting. Captain Pettingell estimates that 500 
supplies of bait of from 10 to CO barrels are sold annually by the Mer- 
rimac seine-gangs. 

The regular price of fresh bait for the past ten years has been $1 per 
barrel. Probably 1,000 barrels of slivered fish were prepared in 1876 ; 
these sold for $5 per barrel. Captain Pettingell estimates the annual 
catch for 1876 at 2,000 barrels to a boat, making an aggregate catch of 
20,000 barrels, or perhaps 6,000,000 fish. The returns are probably 
not far from $20,000 in a good season. 

The following table is from the Report of the Commissioners of Inland 
Fisheries for 1877 (p. 65). It is possibly not complete : 

Table. — Seine fishery at mouth of the Merrimac. 



Name. Menliadeu. 



E. Thnrlow " 

E. Pierce 

B. M. Perkins 1 omo n 

W. H. H. Perkins ''i 2,013,6/o 

N. Lattinie 

B. Stevens 

A similar fishery, though of much less extent, is carried on by Glouces- 
ter vessels in Salem Harbor. There being no considerable body of fresh 
water, the schools are small and are easily dispersed. July 15, 1877, I 
observed six or seven gangs busily plying their seines opposite The 
Willows. After a day or two the menhaden were driven away, and the 
fishing ceased until the following week, when they returned and were 
soon followed by the same boats. 

An estimate of the total consumption of menliadeii bait. 

206. It is not practicable to make, from the data to which I have 
access, any very accurate estimate of the total quantity of menhaden 



150 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

bait used in one year. I have given below a number of estimates for 
iudivitUial ports or fisheries ; GO,COO round barrels are thus accounted 
for. I do not hesitate to estimate the total consumption for 1877 at 
80,000 barrels, or 20,000,000 of fish. 

Consumption by the George's Bmiks fleet 

207. The George's Banks cod fleet is owned entirely in Gloucester 
There are about 130 vessels, making usually one trip every twenty days. 
When they can get slivered menhaden they carry no other bait. Early 
in the summer they go to the Vineyard Sound for their bait, where they 
buy it from the pounds ; later they are able to buy it from Gloucester 
and Newburyport seines. Each vessel carries about 40 round barrels 
of menhaden, iced. Mr. Joseph O. Proctor estimates the annual num- 
ber of trips made with this bait at 600. This gives a total amount of 
24,000 round barrels, or about 8,000,000 of fish ; 24,000 round barrels 
are equivalent to 8,000 barrels of slivered fish. 

Ten years ago, according to the estimate of the same gentleman, the 
" Georgiamen " did not carry menhaden bait on so many trips, nor did 
they carry so much. He estimates 300 trips, at 30 barrels each, giving 
an aggregate of 9,000 round barrels, or about 3,000,000 fish. 

Consumption by the Grand BanJcs fleet. 

208. Mr. Proctor estimates that the Grand Bank cod vessels of Glou- 
cester use in all about GOO barrels of slivered menhaden bait. 

Major Low's statement of the outfit of the schooner " Madam 
Eolaud,"* copied from the trip-book, shows that she was supplied 
with 5 barrels of pogie slivers, at $8 per barrel, making 840 ; and 5 
barrels of slack-salted clams, at $11, making 855.t His model table, to 
show the cost of a new schooner fitted at Gloucester, 1875, for a four 
months' trip to the Grand Banks for codfish and halibut, with 14 hands, 
estimates for 12,000 pogies or herring, at $100.| 

Consumption by the maclcerel line-fishermen. 

209. Each mackerel-vessel engaged in line-fishing consumes during 
the course of the season about 20 barrels of salted menhaden slivers. 
In 1SG7, when the entire fleet fished with hooks, the amount consumed 
by Gloucester alone amounted, by Mr. Proctor's estimate, to 0,500 bar- 
rels, and the total consumption in the United States of mackerel bait 
must have exceeded 25,000 barrels. In 1877 the purse-seiners are in a 
large majority. The whole amount consumed by a seining- vessel does 
not exceed 5 or 6 barrels in a season. Gloucester had in 1877 about 
CO "mackerel-hookers," using about 2,400 barrels of slivers, while its 
seining-fleet used about 2,000 barrels more. 

* Sailed for the Grand Banks August 26, 1873 ; arrived at Gloucester October 10, 1873 ; 
time absent, one month fourteen days ; gross stock, $2,758.27. 
t Ihld., p. 3C2. 
X Ibid., p. 368. 



A 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 151 

Capt. Sylvanus Smith, of Gloucester, stated to the Halifax Commis- 
sion that a vessel fitting out for a four months' trip to the Gulf of St. 
Lawrence would need to be supplied with 40 barrels of po^ie bait, 
worth $6 a barrel, making $240, and 10 barrels of salt clams, worth $8 
a barrel, making $80.* 

Major Low's statement, copied from the trip-book of the schooner 
Oliver Eldridg\%t shows that she fitted out with 55 barrels of slivered 
pogies, at $0,50 a barrel, making $357.50, and 7 barrels of clams, at $6, 
making $42.| 

The amount of these outfits is much greater than that upon which 
the above estimate was made. 

The entire amount used in the mackerel fishery in 1S77 probably did 
not exceed 8,000 or 9,000 barrels of slivers, or 24,000 to 27,000 barrels 
of "round fish." 

Consumption ly the Connecticut smaclis. 

210. There are seven Connecticut smacks fishing for the flounder 
(Chaenopsetta occllaris) in Long Island and Block Island Sounds. Five 
of these hail from ISToank, one from Mystic, and one from New Loudon. 
Captain Ash by tells me that these smacks average one trip every four 
or five days for five months (May to September inclusive). They use 
only menhaden bait ; about one barrel each trii), or perhaps 150 bar- 
rels in the season. 

Sixteen Koank and four New London smacks fish for sea-bass. Each 
carries two or three barrels of menhaden bait each trip, making an ag- 
gregate annual amount of about 1,000 barrels. 

Consumption hy the Neic Yorli halibut fleet. ' 

211. The New York halibut fleet of 11 sails, owned at Noank, New 
London, and Greenport, uses only menhaden bait, which is iced fresh 
in the vessels' holds. Each vessel carries from 0,000 to 10,000 fish each 
trip. Each vessel makes five or six trips. The aggregate number of 
menhaden thus used is perhaps 480,000, or 1,400 barrels. The usual 
price is $4 a thousand. 

Annual sale of bait by the 31aine manufacturers. 

212. The Menhaden Oil and Guano Manufacturing Association of 

Maine sold for bait : 

Barrels 
of lith. 

In 1873 2, 977 

In 1874 . - 10, 400 

In 1875 10, 752 

In 1876 8, 432 

In 1877 10,795 

* Proceediugs Halifax Commission, 1877, Appendix L, p. 334. 

t Which sailed for the Bay of St. Lawrence August 5, 1875 (absent 2 mouths and 28 
days), arrived at Gloucester November 2, 1875, stocking §1,771.83, or 224 barrels of 
mess mackerel. 

ilMd.,]}. 334. 



152 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 
The Connecticut method of icing hait. 

213. A peculiar method of preserving the unsalted menhadeu is made 
use of on board of the Connecticut halibut-catchers. The fish, after 
being very carefully cleaned and eviscerated, are packed with pounded 
ice in bins holding about 125 cubic feet (about 5 feet in each dimension). 
A ground-layer of ice-blocks 12 inches thick is first laid, then a tier of 
fish consisting of two layers and about 4 inches thick, then a layer of 4 
inches of pounded ice, and so on until the bin is filled, after which its 
sides are packed with iiounded ice and covered with canvas. Seven to 
ten thousand fish are thus stowed in one bin. The stowing having been 
completed, the fish and ice freeze together in a solid mass, which is left 
untouched until the fishing-banks are reached. 

Their supply of bait being thus secured, the vessels are never obliged 
to make harbor in search of a new supply. They often catch their fare 
upon La Have or Brown's Bank, and return home without having an- 
chored. The bait is good for three weeks. Captain Ashby assures me 
that he has used it on the thirty-third day. 

The Cape Ann method of icing hait. 

214. On board the Gloucester vessels the menhaden are not eviscer- 
ated, nor are they packed with so much care ; consequently they never 
last more than three weeks. Since tweutj'-four hours or more are usu- 
ally occupied on both outward and home voyages, there is only a short 
time left for which the supply of bait can be counted upon. If by any 
means this time could be doubled, an important advantage would be 
acquired. Vessels would often be able to complete their fares on the 
eastern banks without going to Newfoundland for bait. Does the Con- 
necticut method fulfill this requirement ? Captain Hurlbert, one of the 
most experienced fishermen of Gloucester, says no. He claims that 
neither cod nor halibut will bite well at a fish which has had its blood 
removed. He says that a half-decayed fish, with the blood still in it, 
is better bait than a perfectly sweet one kept by cleaning it. He says, 
still further, that Gloucester fishermen formerly followed this method, 
but that it was abandoned many years ago, as early as 18G6. 

The comparative value of various methods of icing. 

215. The comparative value of the different methods of preserving 
bait was discussed by Professor Baird in his testimony before the Hali- 
fax Commission, which is quoted : 

"Question. Now will you state what observation you have made respect 
ing the method of i)reserving fresh bait from the start all the voyage 
through ? — Answer. As a general rule it is now preserved either by 
salting or freezing. Of course they keep it as long as it will remain 
without si)oiling, and when you have to carry it beyond that time either 
ice it or salt it. Salting, of course, is a very simple process, but it alters 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEiSr, 153 

materially the texture and taste to such a degree that fish or other bait 
that under certain circumstances is highly prized by the fish is looked 
upon with a great deal of indiCfereuce when salted. Now, there are 
special methods of preserving the fish or bait by some chemical prepar- 
ation, which preserves the fish without giving the saline taste. There 
are preparations by means of which oysters or clams or fish can be kept 
in solutions for six months without getting any appreciable taste, and 
without involving the slightest degree of deterioration or destruction. 
One process submitted to the group of judges, of whom I was chairman, 
was exhibited by an experimenter, who placed a jar of oysters in our 
room prepared in that way. I think about the 1st of August those were 
placed in our room, and they were kept there until the middle of Sep- 
tember, for six weeks during the hottest portion of the Centennial sum- 
mer, and that was hot enough. At the end of that time we mustered 
up courage to pass judgment upon this preparation, and we tasted these 
oysters and could not find them affected. We would have preferred 
absolutely fresh oysters, but there was nothing repugnant to the sensi- 
bilities, and I believe we consumed the entire jar. And we gave the 
exhibitor, without any question, an award for an admirable new method. 
That man is now using that process on a very large scale in New York 
for the preservation of fish of all kinds, and he claims he can keeiJ them 
any length of time and allow them to be used as fresh fish quite easily. 
I don't suppose any fisherman ever thought of using any preservative 
except salt. 

"Q. That is entirely experimental? — A. It is experimental, but it 
promises very well. Now, borax is one of the substances that will pre- 
serve animal matter a great deal better than salt, and without changing 
the texture. Acetic acid is another preparation, or citric acid will keep 
fish a long time without any change of the quality, and by soaking it in 
fresh water for a little while the slightly acidulated taste will be removed. 
I don't believe a cod will know the difference between a clam preserved 
in that way and a fresh clam. 

"Q. Now, about ice. We know a good deal has been done in the 
way of preserving bait in ice. How far has that got? — A. It is a very 
crude and clumsy contrivance. They generally break up the ice into 
pieces about the size of pebble stones, or larger; then simply stratify 
the bait or fish with this ice, layer and layer about, until you fill up a 
certain depth or distance. The result is that if the bait can be kept 
two weeks in that method it is doing very well. They generally get a 
period of preservability of two weeks. The ice is continually melting 
and continually saturating the bait or fish with water, and a very slow 
process of decomposition or disorganization goes on until the fish be- 
comes musty, flabby, and tasteless, unfit for the food of man or beast. 

" Q. Well, there is a newer method of preservation, is there not ? — A. 
There is a better method than using ice. The method described by the 
Noank witness, by. using what is equivalent to snow, allows the water 



154 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

to rim off or to be sucked up as by a sponge. The mass being porous 
prevents the fish from becoming musty. But the coming methods of 
preserving bait are what is called the dry-air process and the hard-freez- 
ing process. In the dry -air ])rocess you have your ice in large solid 
cakes in the upper jiart of the refrigerator and your substance to be 
preserved in the bottom. By a particular mode of adjusting the con- 
nection between the upper chamber and the lower there is a constant 
circulation of air, by means of which all the moisture of the air is con- 
tinually being condensed on the ice, leaving that which envelopes the 
bait or fish perfectly dry. Fish or any other animal substance will keep 
almost indefinitely in perfectly dry air about 40° or 45°, which can be 
attained very readily by means of this dry-air apparatus. I had an 
instance of that in the case of a refrigerator filled with peaches, grapes, 
salmon, a leg of mutton, and some beefsteaks, with a great variety of 
other substances. At the end of four mouths in midsummer, in the 
Agricultural Building, these were in a perfectly sound and prepossess- 
ing condition. No one would have hesitated one moment to eat the 
beefsteaks, and one might be very glad of the chance at times to hnve it 
cooked. This refrigerator .has been used between San Francisco and 
New York, and between Chicago and New York, where the trip has 
occupied a week or ten days, and they are now used on a very large 
scale, tons upon tons of grapes and pears being sent from San Francisco 
by this means. I had a cargo of fish-eggs brought from California to 
Chicago in a perfect condition. Another method is the hard-frozen 
l)rocess. You use a freezing mixture of salt and ice powdered fine, this 
mixture producing a temperature of twenty degrees above zero, which 
can be kept up just as long as occasion requires by keeping up the sup- 
l)ly of ice and salt. 

"Q. How big is the refrigerator ? — A. There is no limit to the size 
that may be used. They are made of enormous size for the purpose of 
preserving salmon, and in New York they keep all kinds of fish. I 
have been in and seen a cord of codfish, a cord of salmon, a cord of 
Spanish mackerel, and other fish piled up just like cord- wood, dry, hard, 
and firm, and retaining its qualities for an indefinite time. 

" Q. Well, can fish or animals be kept for an unlimited period if fro- 
zen in that way ? — A. You may keep fish or animals hard dried frozen 
for a thousand years or ten thousand years perfectly well, and be as- 
sured there will be no change. 

" Q. Have geologists or paleontologists satisfied themselves of that by 
actual cases of the preservation of animal substances for a long period? 
— A. Yes; we have perfectly satisfactory evidence of that. About fifty 
years ago the carcass of a mammoth, frozen, was washed out from the 
gravel of the river Lena, I think, one of the rivers of Siberia, and was 
in such perfect preservation that the flesh was served as food for the 
dogs of the natives for over six months. Mr. Adams, a St. Petersburg 
merchant, came along on a trading expedition, and found it nearly con- 



HISTOEY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 155 

snmed, and bought what was left of it for the St. Petersburg Academy 
of Science — the skeleton and some portion of the flesh — which were pre- 
served first in salt and afterwards in alcohol. Well, we know the pe- 
riod of time that must have elapsed since the mammoth lived in the arc- 
tic circle must be very long. We know we can talk with perfect safety 
often tliousaud years. The geological estimate of it is anywhere from 
fifty to a hundred thousand years; we cannot tell. There is no unit of 
measure; we know it must have been some hundreds of thousands, 
and probably it would have remained in the same condition as much 
longer. 

"Q. jSTow, to come to a practical question, is this a mere matter of 
theory or of possible use *? For instance, could this method be adapted 
to the preservation of bait for three or four months if necessary ? — A. 
The only question of course is as to the extent. There is no question 
at all that bait of any kind can be kept indefinitely by that process. I 
do not think there would be the slightest difficulty in building a refrig- 
erator on any ordinary fishing-vessel, cod or halibut, or other fishing- 
vessel, that should keep with perfect ease all the bait necessary for a 
long voyage. I have made some inquiries as to the amount of ice, and I 
am informed by Mr. Blackford, of New York, who is one of the largest op- 
erators of this mode, that to keep a room ten feet each way, or a thous- 
sand cubic feet, at a temperature of 20° above zero would require about 
2,000 pounds of ice and two bushels of salt per week. With that he 
thinks it could be done without any difficulty. Well, an ordinary ves- 
sel would require about seventy five barrels of bait, an ordinary trawl- 
ing vessel. That would occupy a bulk something less than GOO feet, 
so that probably four and a half tons of ice a month would keep that 
fish. And it must be remembered that his estimate was tor keeping 
fish in midsummer in New York. The fishing-vessels would require a 
smaller expenditure of ice, as these vessels would be surrounded by a 
colder temperature. A stock of ten to twenty ions would, in all proba- 
bility, be amply sufficient both to replace the waste by melting and to 
X^reserve the bait."* 

39. — Conflicts between bait fishermen and others. 
Early feuds. 

21G. Some jealousy has naturally arisen at times between the bait- 
fishermen and the manufacturers, as is shown by the following extract 
from Professor Johnston's " History of the Towns of Bristol and Bremen, 
in the State of Maine." 

A special branch of the fishing business has of late been undertaken 
quite largely here (in Bristol), as at other places on the New England 
coast, called the " porgey fishery." The fish are taken in seines, usually 
several miles from the coast, and are used for the oil they produce, and 
for manure. 

* Proceedings Halifax Commission, Appendix L, p. 457. 



156 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

These fish, the common menbaden of the coast, have been caught for 
use as bait in the cod-fishery from the earliest times; and at first the 
new branch of industry, in which such immense quantities are con- 
sumed, was viewed by the old fishermen with no little suspicion, as 
likely to interfere with the important and older branch of the fishing 
business by depriving them of bait. Some riots were at least threat- 
ened, and one oil factory was actually destroyed, as was believed, by the 
old fishermen, or at their instigation ; but the opposition has ceased, and 
the general opinion seems to be that it is best to foster such an extensive 
branch, of business, giving profitable employment for a part of the 
season, as this does, to so many men, even though it may be attended 
by some disadvantages, which in the end may prove more imaginary 
than real.* 

The present aspects of the confiict in Maine. 

217. In 1877 and 1878 a determined eifort was made by the Maine line- 
fishermen to secure the passage of a legislative act forbidding the use 
of seines near the shores. Their claim was that the present methods 
employed in the fishery interfered with their legitimate privilege of 
catching menhaden for bait, and that their tendency was to drive away 
all other fishes as well, and to destroy the fisheries. 

To this movement the manufacturers made strenuous opposition, 
claiming that the menhaden fishery is practically inexhaustible; that the 
habits of the species have not been changed by the fishery, and that so 
far from making it diflicult to obtain bait the large fishery made it 
easier, capturing it in great masses and selling it to the fishermen in any 
desired quantity cheaper than they could obtain it for themselves. Mr. 
Maddock's report, which has frequently been mentioned, was prepared 
at the wish of the Maine manufacturers as an argument to be presented 
to the legislature on their behalf. All the questions involved have been 
elsewhere discussed. It seems very unlikely tliat any legislature will at 
present interfere with so extensive an interest as that of the menhaden 
oil manufacturers, t 

40, — Menhaden bait as an article of commerce, and the con- 
sideration OF ITS VALUE BY THE HALIFAX COMMISSION OF 

1877. 

The export of halt to the Dominion. 

218. In the section relating to the value of the menhaden as a bait- 
fish (paragrai)hs 18G-190), allusion was made to its extensive exporta- 
tion for use in the fisheries of the Dominion of Canada. 

The evidence of several witnesses was quoted to prove that menha- 

* A History of the Towns of Bristol and Bremen in the State of Maine, mcludiug the 
Pemaquitl Settlement. By John Johnston, LL. D., a native of Bristol, and Professor 
Emeritus of Natural Science in the Wesleyan University, Middletowu, Conn., and 
Cor. Mem. of the Maine Historical Society. Albany, N.Y. Joel Munsell. 1S73. 8vo. 
pp. 524. p. 460. 

t See paragraph 156. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 157 

dea bait was preferred to any other kind by the provincial fishermen. 
I am told that a considerable number of the vessels of the Xew England 
fleet fishing in the Gulf of St. Lawrence are accustomed to carry par- 
tial cargoes of salted menhaden to sell in the Straits of Canso. I have 
been unable to obtain any satisfactory statistics of this exporting trade. 
This is doubtless due to the fact that every raackerel vessel carries 
twenty barrels or more of salt slivered fish, and there being no law re- 
quiring their entry in the custom-house or for reporting sales after the 
return of the vessel, no one has the data upon which to found an esti- 
mate. More than 5,0U0 barrels of slivered menhaden, worth more than 
830,000, were probably carried to Dominion waters during the past sea- 
son. Many vessels doubtless expended all the bait which they carried; 
many others sold their surplusage to the provincial mackerelmen. I 
should hardly venture to estimate the amount of these sales at more 
than $8,000 or $10,000, and very possibly they are even less extensive. 

The claim of the English Government. 

219. The subject of the alleged trade in menhaden bait was referred 
to frequently' in the course of the proceedings of the Halifax Commis- 
sion of 1877. The subject was first introduced by the English counsel 
in the " Case of Her Majesty's Government," * as follows : 

♦'The question of bait must now be considered, as some importance 
may, perhaps, be attached by the United States to the supposed advan- 
tages derived in this respect by British subjects. It might appear at 
first sight that the privilege of resorting to the inshores of the Eastern 
States to procure bait for mackerel-fishing was of practical use. Men- 
haden are said to be found only in the United States waters, and are used 
extensively in the mackerel-fishing, which is often successfully pursued 
with this description ot bait, especially by its use for feeding and attract- 
ing the shoals. It is, however, by no means indispensable ; other fish- 
baits, plentiful in British waters, are quite as successfully used in this 
particular kind of fishing business, and very generally in other branches, 
both of deep-sea and inshore fishing, as, for exami)le, fresh herrings, ale- 
wives, capelin, sandlaunce, smelts, squids, clams, and other small fishes 
caught chiefly with seines close in shore. British fishermen can thus find 
sufficient bait at home, and can purchase from American dealers any 
quantities they require much cheaper than by making voyages to United 
States waters in order to catch it for themselves. It is a remarkable 
fact that for six years past American fishermen have bought from 
Canadians more herring bait alone than all the menhaden bait imported 
into Canada during the same period. The menhaden bait itself can also 
be bred and restored to places in the Bay of Fundy, on the western 
coast of Nova Scotia, where it existed up to the time of its local exter- 
mination." 

* Proceedings of the Halifax Commissiou, Appendix A, p. 28. 



358 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

And again: "It is notorious that the supply both of food and bait 
fishes has become alarmingly scarce along the United States coast. At 
Gloucester alone some thirty vessels are engaged during about six 
months in each year catchiug menhaden for bait. They sell about 
$100,000 worth annually, and, by catching them immoderately in nets 
and wears for supplying bait and to furnish the oil mills, they are 
rapidly exterminatiug them. The Massachusetts Fishery Commis- 
sioners, in their report for 1872, state that 'it takes many hands working 
in many ways to catch bait enough for our fishing fleet, which may 
easily ba understood when it is remembered that each George's man 
takes fifteen or twenty barrels for a trip, and that each mackereler lays 
in from 75 to 120 barrels, or even more than that.' One of the principal 
modes for the capture of bait and other fishes on the Xew England 
coast is by fixed traps or pounds on the shore. By means of these, 
herrings, alewives, and menhaden are caught as bait for the sea-fishery, 
besides merchantable fish for the markets, and the coarser kinds for the 
supply of the oil factories. There are upward of sixty of these factories 
now in operation on the ISTew England coast. The capital invested in 
them approaches $3,000,000. They employ 1,197 men, 383 sailing ves- 
sels, and 29 steamers, besides numerous other boats. The fish mate- 
rial which they consume yearly is enormous, computed at about 1,191,100 
barrels, requiring whole fishes to the number of about 300,000,000. 
These modes of fishing for menhaden and other bait are, furthermore, 
such as to preclude strangers from participating in them without exceed- 
ing the terms of the treaty: and even without this difficulty it must be 
apparent that such extensive native enterprises would bar the competi- 
tion and suffice to ensure the virtual exclusion of foreigners." 

The reply of the agent of the United States. 

220. In the "Answeir on behalf of the United States of America to 
the case of Her Britannic Majesty's Government," * Judge Foster, states : 
"Off the American coast are found exclusively the menhaden or porgies, 
by far the best bait for mackerel." 

This is well stated by Sir John j\IacDonald (in a debate in the Domin- 
ion Parliament, May 3, 1872), who says : 

" It is also true that, in American waters, the favorite bait to catch 
the mackerel is found, and it is so much the favorite bait that one fishing 
vessel having this bait on board would draw a whole school of mackerel 
in the very face of vessels having an inferior bait. Now, the value of 
the privilege of entering American waters for catching that bait is very 
great. If Canadian fishermen were excluded from American waters by 
any combination among American fishermen or by any act of Congress, 
they would be deprived of getting a single ounce of the bait. American 
fishermen might combine for that object, or a law might be passed by 
Congress forbidding the exportation of menhaden ; but, by the provision 
* ProceediDfrs of the Halifax Comtuis.sion, Ai^penclix B, pp. Id, 19. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 159 

made in the treaty, Canadian fishermen are allowed to enter into Ameri- 
can waters to procure thebait, and the consequenceof that is, that no such 
combination can exist, and Canadians can purchase the bait, and be 
able to fish on equal terms with the Americans." 

These statements were bosed upon the Canadian official reports pre- 
viously published, which say : 

" For mackerel, the Americans use 'pogies' and clams, chopped fine, 
as bait. The 'pogies' are found only on the coast of the United States, 
and, when imported into the Dominion, cost about $G per barrel. 

" The bait with which the Americans are supplied is far superior to 
any which can be secured in this country, to which may be attributetl 
in a great measure tbe success of the Americans previously to the 
recent restrictions, although even now the local fishermen complain that 
they, have no chance while an American schoouer is fishing near them."* 

'' The menhaden fishery has within ten years grown into an immense 
business. Formerly they were taken only for bait, and were either 
grouu<l in hand-mills, for mackerel, or used in what is called "slivers" 
for codfish bait. There is now a large fleet of steamers and sailing-ves- 
sels engaged in this fishery. Large factories have been erected on shore 
for extracting the oil. As these fish are not valuable until they are fat, 
which is in August and September, they are not much taken in their 
spawning time ; and they will not therefore be exterminated. They are 
caught solely with seines, near the shore, their food being a kind of ma- 
rine seed which floats upon the waters 5 consequently they will not take 
the hook. This fishery is one of the most profitable of all the fisheries, 
the oil being used for tanning and currying, extensively at home, and 
being exported in large quantities. The refuse of the fish, after being- 
pressed, is used for manul'acturing guano or fish phosphate, and is very 
valuable as a fertilizer. This fishery is purely an American fishery, no 
menhaden ever being found north of the coast of Maine. It is entirely 
an inshore fishery, the fish being taken within two miles from the shore." 

The reply of Her Britannic Mojesty^s Government. 

221. The " Eeply on behalf of Her Britannic Majesty's Government 
to the Answer of the dnited States of America " responds : 

" The Answer (pp. 18 and 19) lays much stress on the importance to 
Canadian fishermen of the menhaden bait-fishery on the coast of the 
New England States. The menhaden is here represented to be the best 
bait for mackerel, and is said to inhabit exclusively the American coast. 
An entirely fictitious value has been attached to this fishery. British 
fishermen do not frequent United States waters for the purpose of catch- 
ing bait of any kind, or for any other purposes connected with fishing, 
consequently the privilege of entering those waters to catch menhaden 
is of no practical value. Any bait of that description which they may 
iiequire may be purchased as an article of commerce. 

* Annual report of tbe Department of Marine and FisLeries for the year ending June, 
1870, pp. 312, 342. 



160 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

"There are not uow, nor bave there ever been, treaty stipulations to 
prevent Britisb fishermen from entering American waters to buy bait, if 
they prefer to do so. As a matter of fact, whatever menhaden bait 
British fishermen use is either purchased from American dealers or from 
Canadian traders, who import and keep it for sale like any other mer- 
chandise. Kefereuce is made in the Answer to the possilile contiugency 
of legislation i^rohibitiug the export or sale of menhaden-bait, the im- 
plied consequence being a serious disadvantage to Canadian fishermen 
in prosecuting the mackerel fishery. It would, in such contingency, be 
necessary to use other baits equally good, or resort to some other method 
of fishing, such as that described at page 10, enabling the fishermen to 
dispense with bait. Moreover, it is well known that menhaden are uow 
caught in the open sea., many miles distant from the American coast. 
The Answer asserts, at page 19, that ' it is entirely an inshore fishery.' 
It can be proved that menhaden are chiefly caught off shore, frequently 
' out of sight of land.' " 

Mr. y. L. Boardman, of Augusta, Me., in an interesting report to the 
State Boaid of Agriculture, of which he is secretary, published in 1875, 
at page GO, says : 

" Parties engaged in taking menhaden now go off ten or twenty miles 
from shore, whereas they formerly fished near the coast, and they uow 
find the best and ' most profitable fishing at that distance.' This fish 
is included among the shore fishes described by Prof. S. F. Baird as 
having suffered ' an alarming decrease ' along the inshores of the United 
States, owing partly to excessive fishing throughout their spawning time 
in order to supply the oil-factories." 

Chapter 5 of the Answer deals with " the specific benefits which the 
treaty directs the Commission to regard in its comj^arison and adjust- 
ment of equivalents." The admission of Britsh subjects to United States 
fishing grounds has been dealt with at length in the third chapter of the 
Case. There is nothing in the Answer on this subject calling for any 
reply excepting the statement at page 20, that Dominion fishermen 
'"have in the United States waters to-day over 30 vessels equipped for 
seining, which in company with the American fleet are sweeping the 
shores of New England." Leaving out of question the "American 
fleet," which has nothing whatever to do with the matter, the correct- 
ness of the statement is directly challenged in so far as it implies that 
these 30 vessels or any of them are British bottoms, owned by Dominion 
fishermen ; and the United States is hereby called upon to produce evi- 
dence in its support. 

References in the testimony and affidavits. 

222. In the testimony and affidavits presented by the United States 
counsel,* referred to in the biography of the menhaden appended to 
this memoir and quoted to some extent in paragraphs 188-189, are many 
* rioceediuga of tbo Halifax Commission, Appendices L and M. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 161 

allusions to the value of meubadeu bait. In the series of statistical 
tables filed* is given a statement, prepared by tbe writer, of the annual 
product of the menhaden fisheries. In the speeches of counsel during 
the session of the Commission very little attention was paid to the 
menhaden. , 

Mr. DancCs remarl's in Ms argument. 

223. Mr. Dana remarked in his closing argument : f 

"We need not catch our mackerel bait any more than our cod bait, 
within the three-mile limit. On the contrary the best mackerel bait in 
tbe world is the menhaden, which we bring from ^N^ew England. All 
admit that. Tbe British witnesses say they would use it, were it not 
that it is too costly. They have to buy it from American vessels, and 
they betake themselves to an inferior kind of bait when they cannot 
afford to buy the best from us." 

224. Few comments are needed upon these statements. 

(1) While other fish than the menhaden may be used as bait, the lat- 
ter is preferred by mackerel fishermen generally. (See quotations from 
affidavits of jSTova Scotian fishermen quoted above, 18G-190, and the 
depositions of numerous American fishermen before the Commission 
referred to in the Bibliography of the Species, Appendix C.) 

(2) For the period of six years past, referred to in the comparison of 
the sales of menhaden bait and herring bait, the mackerel fisheries in 
Canadian waters have been far below their usual importance, and there 
has been no large demand for menhaden bait. The bank cod-fishery 
has been as successful as usual and the demand for herring bait undi- 
minished. Moreover a large i)roportion of the frozen herring exported, 
to the United States are consumed as food, not as bait. 

(3) The claim that the menhaden are being rapidly exterminated is 
discussed above in paragraphs 151-156. 

(4) The criticism by the British counsel of the statement that men- 
haden are not taken at a distance from the shore is well sustained. 

(5) The very extraordinary statement that menhaden can be bred and 
restored to their former haunts in the waters of Nova Scotia may be 
met by the statement that there is no evidence that the species was 
ever other than an accidental visitor to those waters, that none have 
been seen there for the past twenty-five years, that the present eastern 
limit of the geograj^bical range of the species is forty or fifty miles, 
west of — 

M.— THE MANUFACTURE OF OIL AND GUANO. 
41. — A HISTORY OF THE OIL MANUFACTURE. 

The claims of Maine to the discovery of menhaden oil. 

225. The manufacture of menhaden oil has been prosecuted for a few 
years only. Several individuals claim the honor of having been first to 

* Ihiil., Appendix O. t Appendix J, p. 78. 

11 F 



162 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

discover its value. About the year 1850 Mrs. Joliu Bartlett, of Blue 
Hill, near Mount Desert, Me., while boiliug some lish for ber chickens 
noticed a thin scum of oil upon the surface of the water. Some of this 
she bottled, and when on a visit to Boston soon after carried samples to 
Mr. B. B. Phillips, one of the leading oil merchants of that city, who en- 
couraged her to bring more. The following year the Bartlett family 
industriously plied their gill-nets and sent to market thirteen barrels of 
oil, for which they were paid at the rate of $11 per barrel, in all $143.* 
Mr. Phillips gave them further encouragement, furnishing nets and 
large kettles, which they set up out of doors in brick frames, for trying 
out the fish. It was thought that much oil was thrown away with the 
refuse fish or scrap, and the idea of pressing this scrap was suggested. 
This was at first accomplished by pressing it in a common iron kettle 
with a heavy cover and a long beam for a lever: afterward by i^lacing 
it under the weight of heavy rocks, in barrels and tubs perforated with 
auger holes. Mr. Phillips subsequently fitted out some fifty parties on 
the coast of Maine with presses of the model known as the " screw and 
lever press." 

The claims of Connecticut and Neiv Yorlc. 

226. Others claim to have manufactured oil about the same time.t 
It is said that as early as 1850 or 1852 there was an establishment for 
the manufacture of white-fish oil near old Port Uale, New Haven Har- 
bor. I am informed that Elisha Morgan, of Poquannock Bridge, Conn., 
made oil from bouy fish previous to the year 1850. He owned seines 
with which he caught fish to be spread upon land fresh. When he 
could not sell all his fish to the farmers he extracted their oil by boiliug 
them. 

Whether the value of the article and the methods of manufacture 
were first brought to notice in Maine or not, the people of that State 
were slow to improve their opportunities and the trade first assumed 
its Importance on the shores of Long Island Sound. Whether the fish- 
erman's wife of Blue Hill is the sole discoverer of the properties of men- 
haden oil is not evident; perhaps the facts were also known to others. 
At any rate the tradition of the Bartlett family is not current on Long 
Island. In the year 1850, according to Captain Sisson, D. D. Wells and 

* As this account is somewhat different from those hitherto published, I give the 
story in the words of Mr. E. B. Phillips himself: "In about 1850 I was in the fish-oil 
business in Boston. An elderly lady by the name of Bartlett, from Blue Hill, Me., 
came into my store with a sample of oil, which she had skimmed from the kettle in 
boiling menhaden for her hens. She told me that the fish were abundant all summer 
near the shore, and I promised $11 per barrel for all she could i^roduce. Iler husband and 
eons made thirteen barrels the first year, and the following year one hundred barrels." 

tThe manufacture of oil and of artificial guano from fishes has long been practiced 
in France, where the fish called Merlan (Gadiis merlangus) \s em]}loyed for the purpose, 
yielding 1^ to 2 per cent, of oil. In France the fish cake remaining after the extrac- 
tion of oil is dried at a steam heat and is then ground fine and packed in air-tight 
casks for sale as manure. 



I 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 163 

his son Henry E. Wells started the first fiictory in the vicinity of Green- 
port, using steam for making oil and scrap. "At that time there were 
some few pots (whalemen's try-pots)ased by other parties in boiling the 
fish in water and making a very imperfect oil and scrap, but were not 
very successful. The first oil made by D. D. Wells & Son was very black, 
impure, full of fleshy matter, and had a very oifeusive smell. It did not 
come much into use, and for a long time the profits of the business 
were small ; but by persistent efiort in perfecting machinery the qual- 
ity of the oil was so much improved as to come into general use for 
certain purposes, such as painting, tanning, manufacture of rope, and 
adulterating other oils. The scrap was also very much improved by 
grinding and drying, pulverizing, &c., so that during the war the business 
was quite remunerative. At that time quite a number of factories were 
established and for a time the business was somewhat overdone, which 
caused some to abandon it altogether, and others to consolidate ; and 
at the present time there are ten factories in operation, doing a fair 
business, giving employment to a large number of people and bringing 
up a hardy race of boatmen and sailors." 

Professor Baird, visiting this region in 1857, wrote: "Quite recently 
several establishments have been erected on Long Island for the man- 
ufcicture of oil from the moss-bunker. The fish, as brought in, are 
chopped up and boiled, and the oil skimmed off ; a heavy pressure on the 
residuum expresses the remaining oil, and what is left is still useful as 
a manure. The oil finds a ready market. It has been estimated tbat a 
single fish will furnish enough oil to saturate a surface of paper eigh- 
teen iucbes square."* 

Notwithstanding the fact that the coast of Maine was adapted for 
much more profitable prosecution of the oil manufacture, nothing of im- 
portance was done there until 1865. The trade grew rapidly for about 
four years, but has not augmented considerably since 1870. Twenty 
factories were built in a short period, fourteen of which are still in 
operation, though several have failed from the too sudden expansion of 
their business. As has been seen, the only points at which the trade 
has an}' statistical importance are within a limited area on the coast of 
Maine, on Narragansett Bay, and on Long Island Sound. At other 
points, one or two factories absorb the whole business; they are but 
half worked, and many of them have been abandoned. I am informed 
that efforts are being made to establish factories on Cape Cod and on 
the coast of South Carolina. 

Great improvement has been made in the processes of refining and 
clarifying the oil, and the clear, yellow, nearly odorless substance now 
produced is vastly different from the article manufactured in early days. 

The process of extracting oil by steam was patented in 1852 or 1853 
by Wm. D. Hall, of Wallingford, Conn., the originator of the Quinnipiac 
Fertilizer Company. Mr. Hall was engaged in bone-boiling and tallow- 

* Fishes of the New Jersey Coast, 1855, p. 33. 



164 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



rendering at Wallingford 5 lie bad a load of white-fish carted to his fac- 
tory from Branford, 16 miles distant. At night, after his men had left 
the factory, he cleaned out his tallow tanks, steamed his fish, and ex- 
tracted the oil ; his experiment was satisfactory and the process was 
immediately patented. The priority of his discovery is challenged by 
Mr. D. D. Wells, of Greenport, who claims to have used the process for 
some years previous to this time. After securing his patents, Mr. Hall 
visited numerous "pot works," which had by this time been established, 
for the purpose of introducing his new methods. At this time he also 
secured a patent for the process of drying fish scraps upon platforms by 

solar heat. 

The inception of the oil business in Maine. 

227. The first factory in Maine was built by a company from Rhode 
Island, in 1864, at Blue Hill, and the next by another company from 
Ehode Island, at Bristol, on John's Bay, the same season. Operations 
being successful, home parties in Booth Bay, Bristol, Bremen, and South- 
port went into the business. In the spring of 1866 eleven factories were 
built, all using steam. This may be regarded as the beginning of the 
industry in Maine on a scale at all in ratio with its capabilities. 

Erection of factories in Maine. 

228. The following table, taken from Mr. Maddock's pamphlet, gives 
the dates at which the factories of the several. firms named were built, 
and the cost of the same. The titles of some have since been changed 
by incorporation with others, change of ownership, &c. Of the eleven 
factories specified before as built in 1866, one has been burned, and two 
absorbed by now existing corporations. 

Date of hnilding of factories in Maine. 



Names. 


When 
built. 


Wbero. 


Cost of build- 
ings and 
equipment. 




1866 
1866 
1866 
1867 
1867 
1H66 
1866 
1870 
1866 
1866 
1869 
1871 
1K7.3 
1874 
1868 
1864 
1874 
1876 


Booth Bay 


$15, OCO 
1 "1 000 




do 

do 


Suffolk Oil Works 


30 000 




do 

do 

Southport (now Booth Bay) 


15 000 




12, 000 

25 000 




Bristol Oil Works 


10 000 




......do 


I'J 000 




1.5 000 


L. Brij:jbtni;in & Sous 


do 

do 

do 

do 


I.'") OCO 


Pemaquid Works 


15 000 


Jos. Cijurch & Co. Works 


40 noo 


Lond'.s Island Works 


6 OCO 


Brown's Cove Works , 


do 

do 

do 


10 OCO 


Tuiliill, L'renib &, Co 


10, 000 


Wells &Co 


12 000 


Fowlor. Fnote & Co 


do 


2,000 






1, .ooo 








Total 


J60, 500 


.? 









The original investment of $260,500 has been increased, as shown by 
the report for 1877, to $1,083,012. 



history of the american menhaden. 165 

42. — The locations of the oil factories. 
Factories in Maine. 

229. The oil and guauo factories are located chiefly on the coasts of 
Maine, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Long Island, at the localities 
already designated as being most frequented by large schools of men- 
haden. 

In 1877 there were on the coast of Maine fourteen establishments of 
sufficient importance to be represented in the Maine Oil and Guano As- 
sociation, all but two of them in good financial standing. I am indebted 
to Messrs. Church, Pryer and Maddocks for the detailed list given below, 
including those not now in operation. There are, besides, several small 
factories of no great statistical importance. 

On Muscongus Sound, near Eound Pond, are six factories owned by 
The Bristol Oil Works, with two presses ; Albert Gray & Co., 
with two presses ; Joseph Church «& Co., with four presses ; the 
Eound Pond Oil Company, not now in operation ; Leonard Bright- 
man & Co., now bankrupt ; the Brown's Cove Company (not operated 
in 1877), and the Loud's Island Oil Company. 

On John's Bay, Liniken's Bay, and in that vicinity are ten, owned 
by the Pemaquid Oil Company, with three presses; Wells & Co., 
with two presses ; Tuthill, French & Co., with two presses; Fowler, 
Foote & Co. ; the Suffolk Oil Company, with two presses; Gallup 
& Holmes, with two presses; Gallup, Morgan & Co., with two 
presses; Kenniston, Cobb & Co., with two presses (not now in opera- 
tion); Luther Maddocks; the White Wine Brook Company. 

There is also a factory at Brooklin owned by Egbert A. Friend, 
and the South Saint George Oil Works, at South Saint George. 

The George W. Miles Company, of Milford, Conn., have for several 
years operated their ship, the Alabama, with two presses, in John's Bay. 

There have also been within a few years factories at Blue Hill, owned 
by CoNARY & Co. ; in Brooklin, owned by G. Allen & Co. ; in Brook- 
ville, owned by E. C. Chatto & Co. ; in Belfast, owned by J. C. Con- 
don and by J. C. May^o. The first is known to be abandoned, and no 
returns have been received from the others since 1873. 

A considerable amount of oil is also tried out by individuals who 
carry on a small business of this description in connection with other 
occupations. The amount thus produced in 1874 was estimated by Mr. 
Eben B. Phillips at from 50,000 to 75,000 gallons. 

Factories in Massachusetts. 

230. In Massachusetts there are no important factories; the Cape 
Cod Oil Works, at Provincetown, and the North American Oil 
Works, at W^ellfleet, try out a small quantity of menhaden oil annually, 
but this is merely incidental, their chief source of supply being bodies 
of stranded blackfish and porpoises. 



166 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

A small quantity of oil is tried out by the fishermen on Cape Cod, 
chiefly, perhaps, from the refuse remaining after the fish have been 
" slivered '' for bait. 

Near Wood's Holl, Mass., is the factory of the Pacific Guano Com- 
pany, which at the time of its establishment in 1SG3 was engaged largely 
in the fisheries and oil pressing, but has now discontinued this branch 
of the business. At Dartmouth is the factory of Erskine Pierce, and 
at Fall River that of Job T. Wilson, which is referred to below in the 
Narragansett Bay list. 

Factories in Rhode Island, 

231. In Narragansett Bay are thirteen factories, specified in the fol- 
lowing list kindly furnished by Mr. Church : 

The Atlantic Oil and Guano Company, operating 3 presses. 

Job T. Wilson & Co., at Fall River, Mass., operating 3 presses. 

Wm. J. Briohtman & Co., at Tiverton, R. I., operating 2 presses. 

Isaac Brown & Co., at Tiverton, operating 2 presses, good condition. 

Charles Cook, at Tiverton Four Corners, operating 2 presses. 

Amassa Simmons, at Tiverton Four Corners, operating 1 press. 

Isaac G. White, at Tiverton Four Corners, operating 2 presses. 

Benj. Manchester, at Tiverton Four Corners, operating 1 press. 

Anthony Manchester, at Tiverton, operating 1 press. 

Otis II. Almy & Co., at Tiverton Four Corner!?, operating 1 press. 

Narragansett Oil and Guano Company, operating 2 presses. 

James Manchesi er, at Tiverton, operating 1 press. 

Thomas F. Gray, operating 2 presses. 

Mr. Pryer gives the names of the following manufacturers not in- 
cluded in Mr. Church's list. Some of them are doubtless concerned in 
the titled companies already mentioned : 

John Southworth, Portsmouth, R. I. 

W. H. H. HoWLAND, Portsmouth, R. I. 

Wilcox Manchester, Tiverton Four Corners, R. I. 

Rhode Island has no factories west of Narragansett Bay. 

Factories in Connecticut. 

232. Another group of factories is located between the eastern bound- 
ary of Connecticut and the Connecticut River. In 1877 these were five 
in number, as follows : 

GuRDON S. Allyn & Co., on Mason's Island, between Stonington and 
Noank, running three gangs. 

Leander Wilcox & Co. (formerly J. Green & Co.), on Mint Head, 
also east of Noank, running two gangs. 

Waley & Co., at Poquonnock Bridge, east of the Thames River, 
running one gang. 

QuiNNiPiAC Fertilizer Company, on Pine Island, Groton, at the 
mouth of the Thames River, running four gangs. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 167 

Luce Beothees, at Niantic. 

Several other factories were formerly operated in this vicinity, namely, 
the QuiAMBOG Oil Company, on Noyes ^Neck (one gang), burnt down in 
187C ; the Gaednee Oil Cohipany and Eeuben Chapman's Works 
on Mason's Island (one gang), abandoned. 

Luce Brothers, of Niantic, formerly had a floating factory built on the 
hull of the old railway ferry-boat "Union." In 1876 a new factory was 
built by them and the floating factory was abandoned. 

West of the Connecticut Eiver the factories are not numerous. I 
learn the names of the following companies: " 

Salt Island Oil Company, at Westbrook, owned by J. L. Stokes 
and others, not now running. 

J. H. Bishop, at Madison. 

FowLEE & CoLBUEN, at Guilford. 

E. R. Kelsey, at Brauford, supplied by weir fisheries. 

Welch's Point Oil Company, at Milford. 

The Geoege W. Miles Co., at Milford, owning a factory on the shore 
and a floating factory, the "Alabama," built ui)on the hull of an old man-of- 
war. This is usually operated on the coast of Maine and is referred to 
in the list of Maine factories. In 1878 it is the intention of Mr. Miles to 
work it on the coast of l!^ew Jersey. 

Factories in New YorJc. 

233. At the eastern end of Long Island is another cluster of oil works. 
The following list was furnished by Capt. Benjamin H. Sisson in 1873 : 
D. D. Wells and Sons. 
Hawkins Beothees. 
H. CoEWiN & Co. 

FlTHIAN & HOETON. 

Benjamin Payne, Geeen & Co. 

B. C. Caetweight & Co. 

Vail, Benjamin & Co. 

The Steeling Co. 

Also two floating factories the "Falcon," 2,500 tons, Capt. Geo. F. Tut- 
hlll; the "Ranger," 1,500 tons, Capt. F. Frank Price. 

Many have since been established and in Mr. Pryers' list (Appendix 
H) the following manufacturing firms are enumerated, fifteen in num- 
ber: 

W. Y. FlTHIAN & Co., at Napeague (Amagansett). 

Geeen Brothers, at Amagansett. 

Joseph D. Parsons, at Springs. 

G. H. Payne, at Deep Hole, Easthampton. 

Hawkins Brothers, at Shelter Island. 

B. C. Cartwright, at Shelter Island. 

Henry E. Wells, at Green port. 

George F. Tuthill, at Greenport. 



168 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

T. F. Price, at Greenport. 

J. NoREisoN Eaynor, at Greenport. 

W. H. H. Glover, at Southold. 

G. H. Clark, at East Marion. 

W. W. Warner, at Good Ground. 

W. C. Eaynor, at Westbampton. 

Nelson Burnett, at Soutbampton. 

On tbe Great Soutb Bay are four factories: 

J. S. Havens, at Patcbogue. 

Smith, Green & Co., -at Sayville. 

Smith & Yarrington, at Sayville. 

South Bay Oil Company, at Sayville. 

On tbe soutb sbore of Long Island, at Barren Island, a few miles east 
of tbe entrance to IsTew York Harbor, at tbe moutb of Jamaica Bay, are 
four factories, owned by — 

Seaman Jones & Co. 

Hawkins Brothers. 

Frank Swift.* 

Barren Island MANUFACTURma Company. 

In tbese four factories, according to Mr. Seaman Jones, about $200,000 
capital is invested, balf of it on sbore and balf in "sailing rigs." 

Factories in New Jersey. 

234. In 1873 tbere were said to be one or two oil factories in Soutbern 
!New Jersey, at Somers Point and Little and Great Egg Harbors. Tbe 
fisberies in tbis vicinity are not vigorously prosecuted, and in 1873 the 
factory at Atlantic City bad already been deserted. Mr. Miles informs 
me tbat be proposes to operate bis floating factory, tbe Alabama, in New 
Jersey waters during tbe coming season of 187b. 

According to Mr. Pryer tbe following factories were in existence in 
1877 : 

Griffin & Vail, at Port Mon moutb. 
Capt. C. Doughty, at Somers Point. 
Morris «& Fifield, at Somers Point. 
James E. Otis, at Tuckerton. 
Cyrus N. Smith, at Tuckerton. 

Factories on Chesajpealce Bay. 

235. I am informed by Mr. H. L. Dudley tbat tbere are four factories 
in tbe Cbesapeake Bay between Norfolk and Baltimore. I bave not 
learned tbe names and locations of all tbese establisbments. One, " The 
Virginia Oil and Guano Company," of wbicb Mr. O. E. Maltby, of 
Norfolk, is president and Mr. Dudley agent, is located at New Point 
Comfort. A second is owned by William D. Hall, of Willenbeck, 

* Better knowu by tbe name of its former owner, Mr. Koou. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 169 

Lancaster County, Ya., who was formerly connected with the Qninni- 
piac Fertilizer Company. A third was the Manokin Oil Works, owned 
in 1873 by Crockett & Co., and a fourth on Tangier Island, owned in 
1873 by Ford, Avery & Co. The Manokin Works are said to be in 
Pocomoke Bay. A factory was operated near Norfolk in 1872 by Mr. 
Fitzgerald, but this hi^s since been destroyed by fire. 
F. H. Barker has a factory at Hampton, Va. 

Factories on the southern coast. 

236. South of Cape Henry there are no factories now in operation. 
Mr. W. F. Hatch, keeper of Body's Island light, North Carolina, gave 
the names of the following factories in that vicinity which had at that 
time already been abandoned : 

Excelsior Works (cost $30,000). 

Church & Co. (cost $5,000). 

Adams & Co. (cost $5,000). 

There is still another abandoned factory near Beaufort, N. C. 

At Charleston, S. C, are the works of the Pacific Guano Company, 
which consumes immense quantities of menhaden scrap. This is however 
brought from the water by the vessels which carry on their return trip 
a supj)ly of South Carolina phosphates for the other factory owned by 
the company, at Wood's Holl, Mass. 

A company in Charleston has a charter for establishing a menhaden 
fishery at the mouth of Charleston Harbor. — {C. C. Leslie.) 

43.— Methods of oil manufacture. 

The princi])les involved. 

237. The manufacture of menhaden oil is simple in the extreme, con 
sisting of three processes : boiling the fish, pressing, and clarifying the 
expressed oil. The apparatus absolutely needful is correspondingly 
free from complication, consisting, for the first process, of a cooking ves- 
sel; for the second, a press, and for the third a shallow vat or tank. 
These were used twenty-five years ago by Mrs- Bartlett, the manufact- 
urer of the first menhaden oil, who produced an article little inferior 
to the best now in the market. Very few patents for improved methods 
of manufacture have been granted: Mr. W. D. Hall's patent for steam- 
rendering is the most important. The principal changes have been in 
the introduction of labor-saving appliances, which enable manufactur- 
ers to carry on their business with the smallest possible force of work- 
men. Steam is of course an important auxiliary in handling the fish 
and in working the presses, and is also used to great advantage in 
heating the cooking-tanks, as well as for pumping the water and oil. 
The hydraulic press has replaced the old fashioned screw-press in most 
of the larger establishments, and the size, shape, and arrangement of 
the bleaching vats, as well as the methods of drawing and pumping the 
oil from one to the other, have been perfected. 



170 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 
Processes employed in manufacture. 

238. The process of oilmakiug at the larger works is essentially as fol- 
lows : The fish are convej^ed to the upper story of the factory on wooden 
tramways in cars containing about twenty barrels each, and are dumped 
into large reservoirs from which the cooking-tanks are replenished from 
time to time, or are emptied directly into the cot)king-tauks, which are 
filled to the depth of six inches with sea-water. From fifty to seventy- 
five barrels are placed in each cooking-tank, and then steam is turned on 
and they are boiled for half an hour or more. In this way about two- 
thirds of the oil is separated ; the remainder is expressed by means of the 
hydraulic presses, under a pressure of 50 to 150 tons or less ; the fish hav- 
ing been placed in circular curbs of half-inch iron, perforated with holes 
an eighth of an inch in diameter, each curb having a capacity of three 
to ten barrels. The oil mixed with water is now run into the " drawing- 
off tanks" while it is still hot, and is passed through several of them, 
the water separating and sinking to the bottom. The oil is now drawn 
off into a " settling-tank" of four or five thousand gallons capacity, where 
it remains a few hours to allow impurities to sink to the bottom. Finally, 
it is pumped into " bleaching-tanks" (of which Judson, Tarr «& Co. have 
five, each containing four thousand gallons), where it becomes clearer 
and whiter in the rays of the sun, and after one or two weeks' exposure 
is ready for shipment. 

Processes employed in refining. 

239. Boardman & Atkins make the following statements about proc- 
esses of refining : 

" The oil and water running together into the receivers, separate, by 
the oil rising to the top, whence it can be drawn or skimmed off". Great 
pains must be taken to separate the oil from the water before the impu- 
rities contained in the latter begin to ferment, for if this happens the 
quality of the oil suffers much. Moreover, in what appears at first to 
be pure oil there is a variable amount of finely divided fleshy substance 
that must be allowed to eettle, as it will after a while, and the clarified 
oil drawn off" before putrefaction sets in. In order to effect the separa- 
tion, the oil is commonly passed through a number of settling- vats, and 
a portion of the impurities deposited in each, and finally before barreling, 
the oil is, if practicable, exposed some hours to the sunlight in a broad, 
shallow lank. If all these processes are successfully carried through, 
the oil is light-colored, sweet, and of prime quality ; but if it is exposed 
at any time to the influence of putrefying animal matter, it becomes dark 
and ' strong.' The very strongest of oil is made from the ' gurry' or set- 
tlings of the oil, after fermentation, by steaming or boiling it over. 

" It naturally happens that every manufacturer makes several grades 
of oil, of very different quality, of which the best is very isweet, fine oil, 
bringing ten cents a gallon more than a strong article. Notwithstand- 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 171 

ing this fact, it is said to be the common practice of dealers to pour all 
grades into the same vat, and this has led manufacturers to take less 
pains to keep them separate. 

" It is a curious fact that oil made from early fish is not so good as 
that made later. It is called ' weak,' and brings in market five cents 
per gallon less." * 

Gurry oil is sold for one-third less than the other grades. 

Perhaps the most satisfactory way of indicating the processes now in 
use will be to describe three or four of the principal factories in detail. 

Tlie factory of The George Tf. Miles Company. 

240. The factory of The George W. Miles Company cit Milford, Conn., 
illustrated in Plate XXV, is said to have been the first one built after 
the model now universally followed, with the cooking-tanks and oil- 
presses upon the second floor of the building. 

When the fishing fleet comes in, the fish are hoisted from the holds of 
the vessels into cars, in which they are carried over an inclined tram- 
way to the upper story of the factory building. Here they are turned into 
tanks, twenty thousand fish in each, and cooked by steam-power. Then 
the water is drawn off and the cooked fish are placed in perforated iron 
curbs, which are so arranged upon railways that they can be pushed 
under a hydraulic press. Each curb-load of fish is subjected to a press- 
ure of sixty or seventy tons, by which the greater part of the oil is ex- 
tracted. The scrap is then dropped into the cellar below. 

The ship "Alabama" is owned by the same firm. It is used as an oil 
factory, and is usually more productive than the stationary works owned 
by the same firm. It is illustrated in Plate XXX. For several seasons 
it has been taken to Maine during the fishing season, where it is usually 
stationed near South Bristol. It is the intention of the owners to take 
it to the coast of New Jersey for the season of 1878. 

The factory ofJudson Tarr d' Co. 

241. Messrs. Judson Tarr & Co., of Rockport, Mass., kindly furnished 
the following account of their factory in Pemaquid (Bristol), Me., as it 
was in 1873 : 

'• The size of the main factory is 30 by 40 feet, with 16- foot posts ; the 
building is two stories high, the upper story being used for cooking and 
pressing the fish, the lower as an oil-room and for storing fish-scrap. 
The engine-house adjoining the factory measures 20 feet by 30, with 
10 foot posts, and contains three horizontal boilers each of sixty-five horse 
power. In the upper story of the factory are eleven round wooden 
cooking-tanks 12 feet in diameter and 4 feet deep ; each tank has steam- 
pipes in its bottom, perforated with small holes to allow the escape of 
the steam ; there are also three hydraulic presses, each with pressure 
of one hundred and fifty tons, and a small engine of ten-horse power. 

■* Op. Cit., p. 27. 



172 KEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

Connected with the factory are two wharves, the longer 150 by 50 feet 
in dimensions, the shorter 40 by 80. At the end of the long wharf is 
placed, on posts 10 feet high, a tank capable of containing 4,000 barrels 
of menhaden. This tank is sometimes completely filled when all the 
steamers have discharged their loads after a successful day's fishing. 
Oa the wharf is an engine of twelve-horse power connected with three 
drums, all or either of which may be used ; when in full blast one thou- 
sand barrels can be transferred from the steamers to the tank in an hour, 
the process being precisely similar to that of unloading coal from barges. 

Also, on the premises of the company, are a main scrap house, 100 feet 
by 60, with 15-foot posts, and blacksmith's, cooper's, and carpenter's 
shops, as well as a boarding-house and stable, all used in connection with 
the business. 

The amount invested in buildings and machinery is between $75,000 
and $80,000, and in steamers and fishing gear, such as seines, small 
boats, «S:c., is about $60,000 additional. 

The utmost capacity of the factory is 2,000 barrels per diem. About 
thirty-five men are employed at the factory. 

The factory of Joseph Church & Co. 

242. The Muscongus Oil Works, on Muscongus Point, Maine, the 
largest in the United States, were visited by Professor Baird in Sep- 
tember, 1873. These works were erected in 1872, and are carried on by 
Joseph Church & Co., of Tiverton, R. I.* The main building is 161 feet 
long and 40 feet wide. The lower portion is the receptacle of the chum, 
wLere about 1,800 tons were in store on the 25th of September, three 
cargoes of about 190 tons each having been sent away during the year. 
The establishment is larger than any other in the United States, and is 
well appointed in every particular, capable of working up more than 
3,000 barrels of fish in a day. About forty-five men were employed at 
these works, and about 5,500 tierces of 40 gallons of oil each had been 
manufactured during the year. These works are now much more ex- 
tensive, employing during the past season (1874) seventy fishermen and 
seventy factory hands, with four steamers and three sailing-vessels. 
They have invested in buildings and machinery $05,000, and in fishing 
gear $55,000. During the season 138,000 barrels or about thirty-four 
millions of menhaden were caught ; 200 barrels were sold for bait, and 
of the remaining 136,000 barrels they manufactured 450,000 gallons 
(11,250 tierces) of oil and 4,000 tons of chum or guano. 

The factory of Kenniston, Cobb & Co. 

243. The establishment of Kenniston, Cobb & Co. is selected for de- 
scription by Boardmau and Atkins, who state that though not one of 
the largest, it is generally conceded to be a model of convenience and 
efticiency. 

* Illustrated iu Plato XXIX. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERinAN MENHADEN. 173 

" The main floor of the factory stands a considerable height above the 
water. Here are all the steam tanks and the press, and in an adjoining 
building is the boiler and the principal engine. The tanks are of wood, 
8 feet square and 4 feet deep, with a capacity of tifty-one barrels, with 
a board i^latform on which the fish rest, 4 inches above the bottom. 
Into the space between the platform and the bottom the steam is intro- 
duced. There are tanks arranged in two rows, between which runs the 
track leading from the lauding. Another track passes by all the tanks 
and leads to the press. On this track run several cyliudrical curbs 
made of wood and iron. The press is hydraulic, and is worked by 
steam. On a lower level than the steam tanks are series of receptacles 
for the oil and water, that are brought to them by conductors leading 
from the tanks and press. Under the main floor is the scrap-house, 
into which the scrap is dumped through a scuttle in the floor. The 
track that runs between the rows of tanks leads down a steep incline 
to the landing, where there is another engine, and an elevator to take 
the fish out of the boats. The elevator delivers the fish into a hopper 
that holds fifty barrels, and from this they are drawn into a car that 
holds seventeen barrels, so that the unloading of the boat may go on 
without intermission while the car is carrying its load up to the tanks. 
The car is drawn up by the engine on the landing, and dumps its load 
into either of the tanks at pleasure. 

" Preparation for the fish is made by filling (he tank a foot deep with 
water and steaming it until hot. The fish are at first steamed hard 
from forty to sixty minutes, then punched and broken up. After sim- 
mering for five hours longer the free water and oil are drawn ofl", and 
then, if possible, the broken fish stand draining and cooling for several 
hours. At last they are j)itched into the curbs, run under the press, 
and subjected to a pressure which is gradually brought up to seventy- 
five tons. This wrings out all the water and oil that it is practicable to 
extract, and the cheese is now dropped into the scrap-house to remain 
until the following autumn or winter."* 

The factory at JS'apcague, iV. T. 

244. In the American Agriculturist for December, 18G8, p. 452, was 
published a description of the factory at the entrance to Napeague Har- 
bor, near Montiiuk Point. In Plates XXVI and XXVII are reproduced 
the illustrations of the factory and its interior arrangements. The fol- 
lowing description of the factory was published at the same time : 

" The fish are taken to the factory's dock. At the factory the fish are 
measured either in cars or boxes, and are drawn upon the railway to the 
tanks, where they are thrown into water, and a full head of steam turned 
on into the bottom of the tank, which contains some sixteen to eighteen 
thousand fish. After thirty minutes' cooking, the water is drained off, 
and a man getting into the tank fills the curbs, which are circular, and 

* Op. cit., p. 27. 



174 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

formed of strong wooden slats, bound and lined with heavy iron. These 
are rolled under a solid, stationary head, fitting closely the inside of the 
curb, and against which the fish are pressed, as the curb is slowly but 
powerfully raised by a hydraulic press. The oil and the water absorbed 
by the fish in boiling are pressed out through the slats and carried by 
leaders to the tanks in the shed by the side of the factory, where the oil- 
man skims, boils, and otherwise prepares it for barreling. As soon as 
the pressure is taken oft, the curb slowly resumes its position on the 
railway, and is pushed to where a man stands ready to remove the 
cheese as it falls from the curb, upon the opening of its hinged bottom. 
This cheese or scrap cake is ground to different degrees of fineness, to 
form the fish guano. This substance, being rich in ammonia-producing 
material, is used by some manufacturers of fertilizers to supply ammo- 
nia to phosphates that are deficient in that constituent." 

The model of a factory in the National Museum. 

245. A complete model of the oil-factory of Joseph Church & Co., at 
Eound Pond, Me., was exhibited in the Department of Fisheries in the 
United States Government building at the Philadelphia Exhibition. 
It is now deposited in the United States National Museum. 

The cost of an oil factory. 

246. The larger part of the cost of an oil factory consists in the ma- 
chinery, as the buildings are always of wood, substantial but cheap. 
The amount invested in f^ictories by difierent manufacturers appears to 
range from $2,000 to $05,000. The average amount invested in the 
fourteen factories of the Maine Association is $22, COO, but the general 
average will not probably exceed $12,000 or $15,000. 

Mr. Church, of Tiverton, R. I., speaking of the establishments on 
Narragansett Bay, remarks that a factory ready for business, including 
buildings, tanks, boilers, hydraulic presses, oil-room, &c., of a capacity 
to cook and i)ress 800 barrels (200,000) in a day, costs not far from 
$14,000. A hydraulic press costs about $1,200 ; in 1877, $700. 

Mr. Miles, of Milford, Conn., states that boilers cost from $2,000 to 
$4,000, hydraulic presses with curbs and fixtures $2,000; engines, pumps, 
shafting, and pulleys, together with the necessary buildings, bring the 
cost of the factory to from $10,000 to $50,000. 

Capt. B. n. Sisson, of Greeuport, j!?f. Y., estimates the cost of boilers, 
engine, piping, hydraulic press worked by steam, steam drying ma- 
chines, and steam hoisting apparatus, to cost from $10,000 to $25,000 
for each factory. 

Mr. Dudley states that a factory running three or four gangs of fisher- 
men costs from $20,000 to $30,000. 

The capital iuvested in the factory is one-half of the whole amount. 
The fourteen establishments of the Maine Association had in 1874 
$316,000 in buildings and machinery and $390,000 in "gear"5 that is, 



HISTOKY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 175 

in steamers, sailing-vessels, small boats, and nets ; an average of $27,800 
to each for gear against $22,600 for factory. 

In Connecticut, according to Mr. Dudley, about the same proportion 
holds. 

The total amount of capital invested in the several companies is given, 
by Mr. Jasper Pryer, as follows : 

G. S. Allyn & Co $25,000 00 

Wm. J. Brightman & Co 20, 000 00 

J. H. Bishop 0, 000 00 

Bristol Oil Works 35, 000 00 

Brown's Cove Company 23, 000 00 

Isaac Brown & Co 9,000 00 

Barren Island Manufacturing Company 17, 500 00 

Joseph Church & Co. (Rhode Island) 17, 000 00 

Do (Maine) 200, 000 00 

Charles Cook , 18, 000 00 

G. H. Clark. 500 00 

Fowler, Foot i& Co 42, 000 00 

Fowler & Colburu ,. , 47,000 00 

W. y. Fitbiau & Co 20, 000 00 

Eobert A. Friend 5, 500 00 

Albert Gray & Co 55,000 00 

Gallup & Holmes 70, 000 00 

Gallup, Morgan i& Co 44,000 00 

W. H. H. Rowland 20, 000 00 

S. Jones «& Co 30, 000 00 

Kenniston, Cobb & Co. 25,000 00 

E. R. Kelsey 8,000 00 

Loud's Island Oil Company 25, 000 00 

Luce Bros 50,000 00 

Maddocks Oil Works - 130, 000 00 

The George W. Miles Company (Maine) 59, 000 00 

Do (Connecticut) 45,000 00 

Moriis & Fifield 5, 000 00 

James Manchester 3, 000 00 

James E. Otis 11,000 00 

Erskine Pierce 11,000 00 

Quinnepiac Fertilizer Company 110, 000 00 

Round Pond Oil Works 42,01)0 00 

Suffolk Oil Company 45,000 00 

South Saint George Oil Works 37,000 00 

Smith &Yarrington 15,000 00 

Tutbill, French & Co 21, 000 00 

Griffin & Vail 10,000 00 

Job F.Wilson 40, 000 00 



176 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

Waley&Co = $15,000 00 

Isaac G. White 35, 000 00 

Wells & Co CO, 000 00 

Leander Wilcox & Co 30, 000 00 

Cyrus W. Smith 7, 000 00 

Westbrook Oil Company 1,000 00 

Eleven factories in Gardiner's Bay, K Y. 310, 000 00 

The total amount here specified is $1,857,500. It should be noted 
that several companies are not reported. 

Organization of flie fishing gangs. 

247. "In the early days of the business," says Mr. Dudley, "the manu- 
facturers did not own the fishing- vessels, nor were they interested pecu- 
niarily in the fishery; they bought the fish from independent fishermen. 
This method was found unsatisfactory ; the fishermen sold to the high- 
est bidder, and the supply was uncertain. Of late years the company 
owns the vessels which supply it with fish. The crew work upon shares, 
as in other fisheries. In the settlement, at the end of the season, a sail- 
ing-vessel, with seine and gear, draws one-third of the net proceeds ; a 
steamer, one-half; the remainder is divided by the crew, the captain 
receiving an ordinary share, in addition to which he is paid a salary by 
the company, either fixed or proportionate to the success of the season's 
work. It is not uncommon for a successful captain to receive a " bonus" 
of $500, or sometimes $1,000. In settling the season's account, the total 
catch is paid for at a rate proportionate to the yield of oil. In 187G, the 
Quinuipiac Fertilizer Company paid $1.25 per thousand. The company 
usually advances pay to the men to the extent of $1 a thousand, and at 
the end of the season a final settlement is made. The crew of a sailing- 
vessel will average form $35 to $75 a month j the crew of a steamer some- 
what more." 

A dvantages claimed for floating factories. 

248. Floating factories are in use chiefly on Long Island Sound; in 
whose protected waters they operate to great advantage. They are now 
going out of use on account of the introduction of steamers. They are 
usually built upon the hull of some old vessel, and are towed from point 
to point, gathering the fish from the smacks and working them up into oil 
and guano as they move. Some of them are fitted up with machinery for 
very extensive manufacture. Two important objects are attained by 
the owners of floating factories : the objection to their business arising 
from the offensive odor is to a considerable extent removed ; by follow- 
ing the movements of the fish time and expense are saved, for by bring- 
ing the factory to the fish they obviate the necessity of having a fleet 
of lighters to carry the fish to the factory, which might often require 
two or three days. There are five of these factories; one owned at Mil- 
ford, Conn., and four at Greenport, IST. Y. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 177 

Mr. GoodaWs improved method. 

249. I quote from Mr. Maddocks's excellent little report the following 
account of an improved process devised by Mr. Goodale: 

" As now generally managed, the scrap remains in large heaps until 
shipped, in autumn or winter, to the points of manufacture into, or in- 
corporation with, superphosphate. In this time a portion of the oil and 
water leaks away, so as to leave about 10 to 15 per cent, of the former, 
and 48 to 53 per cent, of the latter. The elimination of the water is an 
advantage, but the specified per cent, of oil is lost ; and a portion of 
nitrogen is also lost, resulting from the partial decomposition of the 
mass, the formation and escape of ammonia. It were better, if practi- 
cable, to drive off the water at once upon withdrawal from the press, so 
as to prevent the loss in question. 

"What has hitherto prevented the driving off of the water imme- 
diately by artificial heat has been the presence of so much oil, together 
with the gelatinous or gluey matter which is developed during the cook- 
ing, chiefly from the skins and bones. These render the process of dry- 
ing the scrap a very difficult and tedious one, so much so that compara- 
tively little has been put into market in that desirable form. The recent 
discovery of an easy and simple process for removing the larger part of 
the oil, and also at the same time the gelatinous hinderance to drying, 
gives promise of a speedy change in this respect. 

" While pursuing investigations relative to utilizing the menhaden 
as a source of concentrated food, before referred to, Mr. S. L. Goodale, 
well known as a chemist as well as for his eminent services to the State 
as secretary of the board of agriculture, found, by thoroughly washing 
the scrap as it came from the i)ress, with sufficient hot water and agita- 
tion, that the oil globules were liberated from their entanglements in 
the flesh}^ tissues, and also from the creamy mixture with the gluey 
matter into which they were forced by the pressing, so that the greater 
part of it could be readily recovered by draining and re-pressing; and 
also thac after such washing the scrap would bear heavier pressure 
than at first without ' squirting.' By this easy process the oil product 
is largely increased, the scrap is left free from the gluey hinderance to 
drying, and contains less water to be dried out. 

" It may appear strange that so simple a method should not have been 
discovered sooner, but such is the fact. Work had been done on both 
sides of it. Re-pressing had been tried, using extra strong curbs, with 
very powerful pressure, but it failed to give satisfactory results. Ee- 
cooking had been resorted to, which resulted in injury to the oil, and in 
the development of an additional amount of the gelatinous matter. It is 
now seen that a simple thorough washing in hot water accomplishes 
the desired end with neither of these objectionable results. Scrap made 
by this process last August (1877), and dried in the open air, was lately 
analyzed at the agricultural experiment station of Connecticut, and the 
statement of the director, Prof. S. W. Johnson, of New Haven, shows 
12 F 



178 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

the proportion of moisture to be reduced to 11.45 per cent., or about one- 
fifth that contained in the scrap fresh from the press, and the proportion 
of oil to 4.65 per cent., thus proving that the content of oil in the washed 
scrap as it came from the press (before drying it) had been reduced to 
less than 2^ per cent. According to these figures, the proportion of oil 
hitherto lost is, by the new process, reduced from an average of, say, 15 
per cent, of the weight of the scrap as it commonly issues from the press, 
to about 2 per cent. , uhe balance, say, 12 or 13 per cent., is saved. Let 
it be assumed, however, that only 10 per cent, can be realized in prac- 
tice, and that the annual outturn of scrap from the factories of the 
Maine Association is only 40,000,000 pounds. This would give an an- 
nual saving of 4,000,000 pounds of oil, or 533,000 gallons, worth at cur- 
rent prices at market for 1877, 40 cents per gallon, $213,200." 

Proposed chemical methods. 

250. Other methods of extracting the oil from fish scrap have been 
proposed, but their adaptability is not yet so certainly i)roved as to war- 
rant their adoption by manufacturers. 

The proposed plans involve the use of the fumes of benzine, or bisul- 
l)hide of caibon, which are brought into contact with the fish in air-tight 
chambers. The oil is absorbed by these substances, and collects in tanks 
in the floors of the chambers. Any surplus of benzine or bisulphide of 
carbon which may remain in the oil is expelled by distillation. 

The naphtha process for extracting the oil, remarks Mr. Maddocks, 
consists in subjecting the scrap, in an inclined iron cylinder, to the 
action of vapors of naphtha, which combine with the oil, and the latter 
in a state of solution filters away at the lower end of the cylinder. 
The naphtha is then recovered by evaporation. The process is slow, 
mostly, and dangerous. 

Proposed mechanical methods. 

251. It has been suggested that a recently invented filter-press, the 
invention of Mr. John Bowing, is well adapted for the extraction of oil 
from the menhaden and the formation of the residue into cakes. It is 
probably too small for the extended operations of manufacturers, but 
may be very serviceable for the use of refiners. Mr. C. B. Norton, 25 
Astor House, K Y., is the American agent. 

44. — Value of fish for manufacturing purposes. 

Prices of fish at different seasons. 

252. The price of fresh menhaden cannot be definitely stated, since it 
varies from week to week with the abundance and fatness of the fish 
and the needs of individual manufacturers. 

Many factories rely entirely upon their own " gangs " for their sup- 
plies j some others buy the fish of the vessels engaged in the trade. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 179 

tbough tbis practice is less common than it formerly was. Still every 
factory buys fish in greater or lets quantity, and tbe answers to ques- 
tion 47 of the circular are important in exhibiting the variations in 
abundance at diflerent points on the coast. Perhaps it may not be amiss 
to quote fully from the letters, it being quite impossible to tabulate the 
facts. 

Mr. William H. Sargent, of Castine, Me., says : " For four years past 
the average price has been 05 cents per round barrel.* 

Jason Luce & Co., of Menemsha Bight, estimate that menhaden 
average from 225 to 240 in a barrel.t 

. In the report of the committee on statistics from the United States 
Association for tbe meeting of 1875, the estimate was put at three barrels 
to the thousand fish, or 333 fish to the barrel. 

Captain Tuthill estimates 22 cubic inches to each fish, Captain Sisson 
21, making three and one- half barrels to the thousand. In Long Island 
Sound the fish are sold by the thousand j farther east, always by the 
barrel. 

Mr. Condon, of Belfast, estimates the price for 1873 at CO cents; Mr. 
G. B. Keuniston, of Booth Bay, at 75 cents, stating that in previous 
years the price has ranged from 50 cents to $1.25. Mr. B. F. Bright- 
man says that in 1872 and 1873 the average has been 65 cents, but that 
when oil was high tliey have brought 81. Mr. J. Washburn, of Port- 
land, estimates the price at 81 for 1873; during the war, much higher. 
Mr. Eben B. Phillips estimates the price at from 60 to 70 cents in 1873, 
56 in 1874, and about 60 in previous years. Fall fish, for trying, bring 
40 to 50 cents in Wellfleet, Mass., according to Mr. Dill. At Nantucket, 
according to Mr. Reuben C. Kenny, the fish are worth from 50 to 75 
cents as taken from the nets ; only about half are used in the manu- 
facture of oil. 

Mr. Church gives the average price on Narragansett Bay at 40 cents, 
and to this correspond very nearly the estimates of the southern shore 
of Cape Cod and the Vineyard Sound, which find market for their men- 
haden at the Narragansett lactories. 

Captain Crandall, of Watch Bill, E. L, thinks $2 to the thousand a 
fair estimate for 1873 and 1874. Captain Beebe, of Niantic, Conn., 
agrees with this, giving $2.50 for previous years. Mr. li. E. Ingham, of 
Saybrook, says $1.25 to $2. Mr. Miles says that in 1873 the prices 
ranged from $1 to $2.50, according to the yield of oil. Mr. F. Lilling- 
tou, of Shatford, puts it, for 1875, at from $1.50 to $2. Captain Sisson, 
of Greenport, says that in 1873 the price was $2.25; in previous years, 
$1.75 ; in 1874 the price was lower. Collector Havens, of Sag Harbor, 

* A " round barrel " is a barrel of iiudressed fisb, and weighs about 200 pouuds. The 
number of fish in a barrel uecessaiily varies with their size. Estimates range from 
160 to 280 ; but that made by Mr. Fail child, at the meeting of the " United States Men- 
haden Oil and Guano Association," in 1874, is perhaps fair, putting four barrels to a 
thousand fish, or 250 fish to a barrel. 

t Report United States Commission Fish and Fisheries, 1871-72, p. 35. 



180 EFPOST OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

N. T., estimates it at 30 cents per barrel. In the vicinity of Atlantic 
City, N. J., M. A. G. Wolf gives the price at $1.25 to the thousand ; and 
Mr. Albert Morris, of Somers Point, at 39 cents per barrel (about $1.50 
to the thousand). Mr. Ilance Lawson, of Cresfield, Md., states that the 
Chesapeake factories pay 15 cents per bushel.* Mr. Dudley says that 
in 1877 the average price in the Chesapeake was 50 cents a thousand. 

Prices proportionate to amount of oil contained in fish. 

253. These prices are simply those i)aid for fish used in the manufac- 
ture ot oil and guano, the prices of those sold for bait or food being 
given under other heads. No satisfactory conclusions can be drawn 
from these statements, except the very general one that the fish are 
more valuable on the eastern than on the southern coast of New En- 
gland; in Maine bringing from $2.40 to $3.20 to the thousand; on Long 
Island Sound, $1 to $2.25. As the expense of capture is necessarily as 
great iu Southern as in Northern waters, we must seek the reason of 
the difference in i)rice either in the methods of manufacture, the abun- 
dance of the fish, or in the intrinsic value of the fish for the purposes of 
the manufacturer. 

Oil yield of Wortliern fish. 

254. On the first arrival of the schools in Northern water the fish are 
thin and do not yield a large quantity of oil ; but they rapidly gain un- 
til the time of their departure in fall, so that the late fishing is by far 
the most profitable. It is the general opinion of fishermen that North- 
ern fish yield a larger proportionate amount of oil than Southern. 

Mr. Sargent, of Castine, Me., says that three quarts of oil to the bar- 
rel is the smallest yield he has ever known from the first school, and six 
gallons the most from the last school. When the fish are very poor, 
about the 1st of June, it takes 250 to make one gallon of oil ; when poor, 
in July, 200; when fat, in August, 150; when very fat, in October, 100. 
About one ton of scrap is obtained in making three barrels of oil. Mr. 
Condon states that when the fish arrive in the spring they will produce 
but one gallon to the barrel, while in October the yield is four or five 
gallons; the average for the season being three gallons. Mr. Friend 
states that the least yield, in June, is two quarts to the barrel ; the 
greatest, in August, four gallons. Mr. Kenniston states that May fish 
yield three pints to the barrel ; October fish, six gallons and one-half. 
These are no doubt intended as the extreme figures. The average yield 
is two and one-half gallons to the barrel, an estimate in which Mr. 
Brightman concurs, though placing the lowest at three quarts ; the 
highest, in August and September, at four gallons. He estimates the 
yield of a ton of scrap at thirty to forty gallons, according to the season. 
Judson Tarr & Co. put the early fish at less than a gallon, the Septem- 
ber fish at four gallons to the barrel. Mr. Babson thinks that the early 
* About 50 cents per barrel, or $2 to the thousand. 



HISTOEY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 181 

fish yield about a gallon, the last four gallons ; an estimate in which he 
is confirmed by Mr. E. B. Phillips. 

Mr. Erskine Pierce, of Dartmouth, Mass., states that in 1877 the av- 
erage yield at his factory was 1^ gallons to the barrel. 

According to Mr. Church, the fish are fattest generally in the fall, 
though after a warm winter he has known them after first arrival to 
yield 2^ gallons. After a cold winter the opposite is true; and he has 
seen them so poor in the summer that out of one hundred barrels of 
fish not a pint of oil could be extracted. The first 18,000 barrels taken 
by Church & Co., on the coast of Maine, in 1873, did not make over 
14,000 gallons of oil (about three quap-ts to the barrel). On Narragan- 
sett Bay, in 1873, the yield was IJ gallons less than on the coast of 
Maine; on Long Island Sound, half a gallon. 

Mr. Reuben Chapman informed me that at his factory, on Mason's 
Island, opposite Noank, Conn., the yield of early fish was sometimes 
as low as a gallon to the thousand, later in the season reaching fourteen 
or oven eighteen gallous; which would be equivalent to five or six gal- 
lons to the barrel. 

Mr. Maddocks, writing of the Maine fish, states: "The yield of oil 
sometimes doubles, per head, in thirty days after their coming. The 
fish taken on the coast of Maine yield a considerably larger supply of 
oil than those taken at points farther south, around Long Island, off the 
Jersey shore, &c. The amount of oil per barrel of fish is there about 
one gallon, against two and a half here, for the whole season in each 
case." 

And again : "The amount of oil realized varies from one gallon per 
barrel of fish early in the season to four or five gallons in September. 
The scrap contains, on the average, as it comes from the press, 55 to 60 
per cent, of its weight in water, and sometimes more. This is, of course, 
worthless for fertilizing purposes. It also contains from 12 to 20 per 
cent, of fat or oil, which is equally worthless for manure." 

Mr. Dudley considers that the first taken in Long Island Sound yield, 
on an average, about 4 gallons to the thousand. At Pine Island it is 
somewhat greater; one season averaged 3|, another G^. In 1877 the 
average to June 12 was 5 gallons; to November 1, 3 gallons. On No- 
vember 1 the fat fish made their appearance, and the average has since 
doubtless greatly increased. There is usually an increase in the yield of 
oil after July 1, but since 1874 this has not been the case in Southern 
New England. Mr. Dudley has cooked fish which would not yield a 
quart of oil to the thousand. Again, in November, the yield has been 
18 gallons. It is the opinion of Mr. Dudley that dark oil only is yielded 
by fish taken in brackish water; light oil by those taken outside. 

The George W. Miles Company, of Milford, states that the largest 
amount made by them in one factory in any one year was in 1871, when 
they produced 100,000 in about fifty working days; the largest quantity 
in the shortest time was 21,000 gallons in seventy-two hours, or 7,000 



182 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

gallons to each day of twenty-four hours. In 1872 they produced G0,000 
gallous, and in 1873 105,000 gallons in their two factories, one factory 
not operating all the time on account of a pending lawsuit. 

According to Capt. J. L. Stokes of the Salt Island Oil Comi)any, the 
average yield of oil is four gallons to the thousand, 9,000 fish making a 
ton of scrap. Captain Beebe and Mr. Ingham put the highest for the 
region about the mouth of the Connecticut Eiver at eight gallons, or 
pel haps three gallons or less to the barrel. 

Mr. Miles writes : "All depends upon the quality of the fish, whether 
fat or iDoor. In July, August, and September we only get fish that 
come into the Sound to feed, and they fatten after they get here. If they 
are poor, we have the largest catch in June and July ; if they are increas- 
ing in fat or yield of oil, we cannot capture them successfully until Au- 
gust and September. The fat fish in the Sound are usually wild and 
hard to take until late, iDcrhaps owing to the fact that their food is 
plenty and low in the water. When the season is unusually dry, the fish 
are sure to be fat ; but in a wet season they are found to be below the 
average in yield of oil. After the fish get here, if their food is plenty, 
they grow fat very fast. In the past season (1873), in May and June, 
one million of fish would make only 800 gallons ; in August, the yield 
was from 8 to 10 gallons per thousand, and in September, 10 to 12." 

At Greenport, in 1873, the average yield, on Captain Sisson's estimate, 
was 8J gallons to the thousand ; the smallest yield, half a gallon in 
spring and late fall ; the greatest, 22, in September and October ; 8,000 fish 
make a ton of green scrap. Mr. Havens puts the lowest yield at one 
quart to the barrel, the highest at 4 gallons, an estimate much below 
Captain Sisson's, which would make over 6 gallons to the barrel. 

Hawkins Bros, estimate the lowest yield at one gallon to the barrel 
in midsummer, and 4 J in October and November, putting the average 
quantity of fish to the gallon at one-third of a barrel on Gardiner's Bay, 
one-half at Barren Island, and 85 gallons to a ton of scrap on Gardiner's 
Bay, 57 at the island. 

At Atlantic City, N. J., according to Mr. A. G. Wolf, the average 
yield is 4 gallons to the thousand, the greatest in JSTovember, 11 ; a ton 
of scrap corresponding to 40 gallons of oil. 

On Great Egg Harbor, states Mr. Morris, July fish yield one quart of 
oil to the barrel ; those of October and November yielding 4 gallons. 
A gallon of oil is the average to each barrel of fish, and 45 gallons to a 
ton of scrap. 

The yield to each barrel of fish was thus estimated by Ehode Island 
manufacturers in 1877 :, Joseph Church & Co. and W. H. H. Howland, 
1 gallon ; Charles Cook, Job T. Wilson, Isaac G. White, and James 
Manchester, 1^ gallons; Isaac Brown «& Co., IJ^; and William J. 
Brightman, 1-^. 

Connecticut manufacturers are estimated as follows: The George W. 
Miles Company, 2f gallons to the thousand ; Leander Wilcox & Co., 3 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 183 

gallons; G. S. Allyn & Co., 3| gallons ; Waley & Co. and Luce Brothers, 
3:1 gallous; the Quinnipiac Fertilizer Company, 3 J gallons; J. H. Bishop, 
3J gallous; and FoN/ler & Colburn, 3f- gallons. 

New York manufactuiers are estimated as follows : The Barren Island 
Manufacturing Company, G. H. Clark, W. Y. Fltbian & Co., 2^ gallons 
to the thousand; Smith & Yariugton, 2a gallons; S. Jones & Co., 4^ 
gallons ; eleven factories in Gardiner's Bay, 3 gallons. 

New Jersey manufacturers are estimated as follows : Morris & Fifield, 
2 gallons to the thousand ; James E. Otis, Griffen & Vail, Cyrus II. 
Smith, 2J gallons. 

Maine manufacturers in 1877 were reported as follows: Albert Gray 
& Co., 1^ gallous to the barrel ; Gallup, Morgan & Co., 2^ gallons ; 
Fowler, Foot & Co., 2i gallons; Suffolk Oil Company, 2^ gallous; K. 
A. Frieud, 2J gallons ; Gallup & Holmes, 2^ gallous ; Loud's Island 
Company, 2^ gallous. 

M. Maddocks declares that on the coast of Maine "one hundred and 
ninety-five pounds of fish make a barrel. One barrel yields about two 
and a half gallons of oil or eighteen and three-quarter pounds. One 
barrel yields about eighty pounds of chum or scrap." 

Oil yield of Southern fish. 

255. Mr. Kenniston makes the following statement : " Corresponding 
with the successive appearance of the menhaden from South to North 
there is a progressive improvement in size and fatness. When they arrive 
in Chesapeake Bay, in the spring, they are thin and lean, and appear to 
be sluggish and stupid, so that they are easily caught — can almost be 
taken out by the hand along the shore, which many of them follow 
closely. Between Virginia and Maine the increase in weight is thought 
to be one-third. In the fall the increase still continues, but the order of 
it is reversed, the fish appearing to grow larger the farther South they 
go, and on reaching Virginia again are twice as heavy as in the spring, 
and have so gained in strength, swiftness, and wariness that they are 
very hard to catch."* 

Mr. Dudley tells me that from his experience of two years he knows 
that the first runs of fish in the Chesapeake are fat. This is in March 
and April. 

Mr. A. C. Davis states that the June fish at Beaufort yield from ^ to 
1 gallon, those in October and November 4 to 5 gallons. 

Mr. W. F. Hatsel, of Body's Islaud, states that the average yield is Ih 
gallons to the barrel, 75 gallons to the ton of scrap. 

Comparison of yield in different localities. 

25G. These statements indicate in a general way that the yield of North- 
ern is greater than that of Southern fish, though the disparity is not so> 
* Boardman and Atkins, op. cit., p. 6. 



184 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OP FISH AND FISHERIES. 

greatiu thelatter part of the season. Mr. Davis' estimate for Beaufort is, 
however, not much below the average of the coast south of Maine, and it 
is quite possible that the apparent disparity of the yield on the Southern 
coast (of which we are not really entitled to judge with the meager re- 
turns before us) would be in part explained by differences in the modes 
of manufacture. Florida menhaden are many of them very fat in the 
winter season, and there is no apparent reason why the manufacture of 
oil and guano may not be successfully carried on on our Southern coast. 

The official returns of manufacturers may add some additional facts 
in reference to the yield of fish in oil and guano and the comparative 
advantages of location. 

The following table and statement, quoted from Mr. Maddocks, give 
a comparative view of the manufacture as carried on by the Maine As- 
sociation and by all the rest of the United States for the year 1876, tbe 
latest for which the data are at hand for the whole country. 



Locality. 


No. of 
meu. 


No. of 
vessels. 


No. of 
steamers. 


Total capi- 
tal. 


Barrels 
fish used. 


Gallons oil 
manulactured. 


Tons crude 
gnano man- 
ufactured. 


Other States... 


1,629 
1,129 


291 
29 


3 

43 


$1, 707, 000 
983, 000 


826, 885 
709, 000 


848, 727 
2, 143, 273 


29, 831 
21, 414 







The most striking fact brought out in the comparison is that Maine 
realized, from 46 percent, of tbe fish, 71 per cent, of the oil. To this it 
may be added that from the use of $983,000 capital Maine turned out a 
total product of $1,071,449 value, whereas the rest of the country realized 
$637,600 from $1,767,000. 

45. STATISTICS OF THE MANUFACTURE OF OIL AND 

GUANO. 

Returns for the State of Maine, 

257. The number of gallons of oil produced at the factories of the 
Maine Association during the past five years is as given below : 

1873 1, 204, 055 

1874 1, 93 1 , 037 

1875 1, 514, 881 

1876 2, 143, 273 

1877 ., 1,166,213 

Total 7,959,459 



HISTORY OF THE AMEEICAN MENHADEN. 



185 



Table showiug average 


number of vessels emplojjecl 


injishei 


•ies of Maine Association. 


Name. 


Address. 


1873. 


1874. 


1675. 


1876. 


1877. 






5 
2 
I 
2 
3 
3 
3 
4 
6 
3 


3 

1 
1 
3 
2 

4 
5 
3 
6 


3 


2 




Jnilsou, Tarr & Co 


Pemaquid, Me 




Albert Gray & Co 




1 
2 
2 
1 
2 
5 


1 
2 
1 


1 




do 


2 


Gallup, Mor;;an & Co 




"W.A.Wells &Co 


South Bristol, Me 




Gallup &. Jloluies 








Kenuiaton, Cobb ic Co 


Bootbbay, Mo 


4 




Atlantic Oil Comi)auv 


do ■. 




Round Pond Oil AV^orks 


Round Pond, Me 


3 

2 

2' 


4 
2 
3 
3 


4 


Bristol Oil Works 


do 




Suffolk. Oil Works 


do :::... 


5 
2 


4 
2 
1 


1 


Loud's Island Oil Works 


do 


2 


K. A. Friend 






Tuthill & Co 


South Biistol. Me 




1 

5 
3 

2 

2 


1 




J. G. Nick-, rson & Co 


Hodgdon's Mills, Me 








John nastin;?j 


Round Pond, Mo 






3 














George W. il iles &. Co 


do 








Job X. Wilson 


Bluonill.Me 










Pemaquid Oil Company 


Pcmaijuid, Me 












Brown's Co.e Oil Company.. 
Haddocks' Oil Works 


Round Pond, Me 








3 




Boothbay, Me 








South Saint George Oil Works 


South Saint George, Me 























Table showing amount of capital employed by manufacturers of Maine Association. 



Xame. 



L. Brigbtnian & Sons 

Judsou, Tarr & Co 

Albert Gray & Co 

Jos. Churcli &. Co 

Gallup, Morgan & Co 

W. A. Wells &Co 

Gallup &. Holmes 

Kennijitoi), Cobb & Co 

Atlantic 0.1 Coiui)anv 

Round Pond Oil Works 

Bi istol Oil Works 

Suffolk Oil Works 

Loud's Island Oil Works . . . 

E. A. Friend 

Tuthill &Co 

J. G. Nickerson & Co 

John Hastings 

Fowlsr & Foore 

George W. Miles ife Co 

Job T. Wilson 

Pemaquid Oil Company 

Brown's Cove Oil Company. 

Maddocks' Oil Works 

South Saint George Oil Works 



Address. 



Round Pond. Me 

Pemaquid, Me 

Round Pond, Mo 

do 

East Coothbay, Mo... 

South Bristol] Me 

East Boothbay, Me. . . 
Boothbav, Me 

do : 

Round Pond, Mo 

do 

do 

, do 

Brooklia, Me 

South Bristol, Me 

Uodgdon's Hills. Me. 

Round Pond, Mo 

South Brist^ 1, He 

do 



Blue Hill, Me 

Pemaquid, Me 

Rouuel Pond, Me 

Boothbay, Mo 

South Saint George, Me. 



1873. 



S90, 000 
110,000 
•28, (JOJ 
1-20, 000 
19, COJ 
27, 000 
22, 000 

27, OUO 
Go, ODD 
10, QUO 

28, 000 
55, 000 

0,500 



1874. 



590, 000 

1-20, 000 
55, COU 

120,00.1 
21,000 
35, OCO 
25, COO 
oO, 000 

100, 000 

18, 000 

20, (,00 

55, 000 

8,000 

6,500 



$90, 000 



§110,000 



50, 000 
145, 000 
31, LOO 
-10, 000 
50, Olio 
25, 000 
HO, OUO 
'20, 000 
22, 000 



8,000 



28, 000 
90, 000 

23, 000 
3{), COO 
57, 000 

24, 000 



45, 000 
15.5, 000 
35, 000 
40, 000 
54,000 
25, COO 
135, COO 
12, 000 
16, 000 
80, 000 
8,000 



38, 000 



48, OCO 
57, 000 



110,000 
15, 000 



|90, 000 



55, 000 
200, 000 
44,013 
60, 000 
70, 000 
■25, 000 



21,000 
35, 000 
45, 000 
25, 000 



42, 000 



42, 000 
59, 000 



100,000 
23, COO 

130, OCO 
37, 000 



Table showing average number of tons of crude guano produced by the manufacturers of 

Maine Association. 



Name. 


Address. 


1873. 


1874. 


1875. 


1876. 


1877. 


L. Brightman & Sons 


Round Pond, Mo 


1,500 

1,800 
750 

2,100 
GSO 
700 
470 
615 

1,800 
450 
COO 

1,300 
200 


2,600 
2,150 
1,3.0 
4, 000 

900 
900 
790 
850 
2, 450 
8.30 
800 
9.50 
500 
205 


2,500 


1,450 




Albert Gray & Co 




1,680 

4,500 

1,010 

510 

909 

714 

2,000 

5:0 

800 

'"'466 


1,300 

6,000 

1,100 

1,000 

1,230 

4s3 

1,595 

600 

81 

850 


800 


Jos. Church & Co 


do 


5,400 


Gallup, Morgan & Co 

W. A. Wells & Co 


East Boothbay, Me 

South Bristol, Ho 


700 
562 




1,500 


Keuniston. Cobb & Co 


Boothbay, Ho 

do 




Round Pond Oil A7oik3 




150 


Bristol Oil Works 


do 


000 


Suffolk Oil Works 


do 


740 




do 


275 


R. A. Friend 






Tuthill &Co 


South Bristol, Mo 




500 
1, 375 

400 
450 
850 
250 


825 


800 


J. G. Nickci'son & Co 


Hod'^dou's Hills He 








John Hastings 












Fowler & Foote 


South Bristol, He 

do 






825 
1, 121 


562 


George W. Miles & Co 






725 


Job T. Wilson 


BlucIIill,Mo 








Pemaquid Oil Company 


Pemaquid, ilo 






2,000 
175 


1,900 


Brown's Cove Oil Company.. 
Maddocks' Oil Works 








Boothbay, He 








1,600 


South Saint George Oil Works 


South Saint George, Me 










352 

















186 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



TaMe sliowhig average number of harrels offish, talcen bu fleet belonging to Maine Association. 



Kame. 



L. Bri,':litman & Sons 

Jcdsou, TaiT & Co 

Albert Gray & Co 

Jos. Obiircia & Co 

Gallup, Moigau &, Co 

W.A. Wells &Co 

Gallup & Holmes 

KcnnistoD. Cobb & Co 

Atlantic Oil (Joinijauy 

Ecuud Pond Oil Woriis 

Bristol Oil Works 

SalTolk Oil Works 

Lovid's Island Oil Works. . . 

E. A. Friend 

Tuth;ll&Co 

J. G. Is iekerson & Co 

John Hastings 

Powler & ]<'ooto 

Georoo W. Miles & Co 

Job T.Wilson 

Pcmaquid Oil Company 

Brown's Covo Oil Company 

Maad(icks'Oil Works 

South Saint Georoo Oil Works 



Address. 



Round Pond, Me . 
Pcmaquid, Mo ... 
Kound Pond, Me . 



East Boothbay,, Me . . 

South Bristol,' Me 

East Boothbay, Me. . . 

Boothbay, Mo 

do ■ 

Koun-i Pond, Me 

do 

do 

do 

Brooklin, Me 

South Biisto), Mo 

Hodgdon's Miils, Me . 

Jiou'jd Pond, Me 

South Bristo!, ile 



Blue mil, Mr, 

Pcnia(iiuJ,Mo 

EouL'd Fond, Me 

Eoothbny, Mo 

South Saint George, Me. 



1873. 



49, 000 
61,000 
25, 000 
86, COO 
22, 000 
^2,913 
15, 000 
18,000 
43, COO 
lt),r.00 
22, 000 
41,000 
8,000 



1874. 



82, 000 
07, 000 
40, 000 
138, 000 

29, 472 

30, 000 
25, 000 

28, 339 
C4, 000 
27, 000 
33, 000 

29, COO 
l.'i, 0(iO 

8,000 



83, 000 



53,000 
i:>3, ODO 
29, 545 
28, COO 
32, OjO 
21, 323 
5G, 000 
18,000 
24, 000 



48, 000 



12, 300 



IC, 583 
4:i, 020 
14,0C0 
10, COO 
2.>, 000 
10,400 



45, 000 

;o 1,000 

34, 703 
30, 000 
40, 900 
14, 474 
51, 878 
2J, 000 

25, 053 

26, 916 
13, 000 



27, 900 



26, 2.^0 
37, 000 



00, 000 
5,000 



1877. 



27, COO 
182, 000 
23, 760 
19, 200 
51,847 



5,500 
22, 500 
22, 200 

9, COO 



27, 176 



17, 721 
20, 000 



64, 031 



51, 610 
13,000 



Table shoiving average number of gallons of oil produced bi/ manufacturers of Maine Asso- 
ciation. 



Name. 



L. Bri<j,htman & Sons 

Judson, Tarr li >Jo 

Albert Gray & Co 

Jos. Church & Co 

Gallup, Mor<j;au & Co 

W. A. Wel:.4 & C.) 

Gallup & Hi/lmes 

Kennistou, Cobb &. Co 

Atlantic Oil Compauy 

Eound Pond Oil Works 

Bristol Oil Works 

SaflblkOil Won>s 

Loiid's Islaid Oil Works .. 

E. A. I' riend 

Tutbill & Co 

J. G. Kickerson & Co 

John Hastings 

Fowlor & Footo 

Gecrsie W. Miles & Co 

Job T. Wilson 

Pemaquid Oil Company 

Brown's Cova Oil Company 
Maddocks' Oil Work/i . . . " . 
South Saint George Oil Works 



Address. 



Eound Pond. Me 

Pcmaquid, Mo 

Eound Pond, Me 

do 

East Boo; hbay, Mo 

Sou;b Eli tol,' Alo 

East B joihbay. Me 

Boothbay, Mo 

do : 

Eound Pond, Me 

do 

, do 

do 

Brooklin, Mo 

South Bi'istol, Me 

Hodgdon's Mills, Mc 

Eound Pond, Mo 

South Biistol, Me... 

do 

Bluenill,Mo 

Pemaqnid, Mo 

Eound Pond, Me 

Booth hay. Mo 

South Saint George. Me 



187.1. 



135,000 
i7."., COO 
70,000 
J50, COO 
55, 000 
C2, 01.0 
45, COO 

5 1, euo 

120, COO 
4 1, 2.)5 
5.1, COO 

[-11,000 
20, 000 



1874. 



■-'60, 000 
200, COO 
153,005 
450, COO 
8.-I, 204 
9:!, 000 
71,000 
^4, llib 
193, OUO 
S7, COO 
1 02, 000 
8:i, 000 
•14, COO 
2a, 000 



1875. 1870. 



20, 000 



135, 000 
440, COO 

75, 1 ? 

76, 000 
Hd. 000 
50, G.JO 

140, 000 

4.5, o;;o 

70, 000 



146, 000 



30, 000 



48, 428 
114, 380 
37, OCO 
36, 4C0 
71, OCO 
y8, 000 



129, 000 
000, 000 
111,018 
87, 000 
135, 555 
:.9,500 
139, 0(10 
72, 000 
80. 000 
82, 500 
28, 000 



89, 000 



85, 000 
124, 700 



180, 000 
15, COO 



44,000 

365, 781 

47, 880 

40, OCO 

121, COO 



8,500 
53, 500 
51,000 
15, 680 



65, 000 



39, 872 
45, 000 

136,006 



118,000 
21, 000 



Table showing average number of steamers employed in fisheries of Maine Association. 



Name. 



L. Brightman & Sons 

Judson, TaiT & Co 

Albert, Gray & Co 

Jos. Church & Co 

Gallup, Morgan & Co 

W. A. Wells&Co 

Gallup Lt Holm' s 

Kcnui.ston, C.'ibb & Co 

Atlantic Oil Cumpany 

Eound Pond Oil Wcrlis 

Bris olOil Works 

Suliblk Oil Works 

Loud's Islaud Oil Works. . . 

E. A. Friend 

Tulhill &Co 

J. G. Nicker.soa & Co 

Job T. Wilson 

Pemaquid Oil Company 

Brown's Cove Oil Company 

John lLisUn'.;s 

Fowh r & F(jote 

GeorgL. Vv'. Mdcs & Co 

Maddocks' Oil Works .... 
South Saint George Oil Works 



Address. 



Eound Pond, Mo 

Pomaquid, Me 

Eound Pcnd, Mo 

do 

East Boothbay, Me. . . 

South Brisiol, Mo 

E,!st Boothbay, Mo. . . 
Booth uay, Me 

do : 

Eouua Pond, Me 

do 

do 

do 

Brorklin, Mo 

South Bristrd, Me 

Uodtrdon's Milla, Mo . 

Blue Hill, Mo 

PoLaaquid, Mo 

Eouud'Pond, Me 

..- do 

South Bristol, Me 



Booth Bay,Me 

South Saint George, Mo. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 



187 



Table showing aggregate nmnher of men employed in fisheries of Maine Association. 



Kaiiie. 



L. Brigbtiuau & Sons 

JudsoD, TaiT & Co 

Albert, Giay & Uo 

J 08. Church & Co 

Gallup, Morgau & Co 

W. A. Vv'ells iCo 

Gallup & Holmes 

KeniiistoD. Cobb & Co 

Atlantic Oil Comiiany 

Eouml Pond Oil Works 

Bristol Oil Works 

SuflblkOil WoTks 

Loud'.s Island Oil Works 

It. A. Friend 

iUthiU&Co 

J. G. Nickerson & Co 

John Hastings 

.Fowler >.t Foote 

George A", ililes & Co 

Job T. Wilson 

PomaquJd Oil C^iupaiiy 

Browij's Cove Oil Company . . 

Maddocks' Od Works 

South Saint George Oil Workb 



Address. 



Kound Pond, Me 

Pemaquid, Mo 

Ivounu Pond, Me 

do 

East Boothbay, Me 

South Bristol, Mo. 

East Boothbay, Me 

Boothbay, Me 

do.. 

Kound Pond, Me 

do 

do 

do 

Brookli'j, Me 

South Bristol, Mo 

llodgdou's Mills, Mo 

Itouiid Pond, Mo 

South Bristol, Me 

do 

Blue Hill, Me 

Peniaquid, Me 

Uonr;d Pond, Mo 

Booihbay, Me 

South Saint George, Me. 



1873. 1874. 



40 
100 
37 
32 
toO 
50 
GO 
30 
30 



50 
120 
t 35 
30 
40 
50 
63 
40 
30 
50 
20 



(*) 



50 
140 

23 
40 
60 



(*) 



(*) 



* Not operated. t Hodgdon's Mills, E. B. 

Table shoiving aqgregale nnmher of men emp^oiiefT in factories of Maine Association. 



Name. 1 Address. 


1873. 


ls:74. 


1875. 


1876. 


1877. 


L. Bi ightmau & Sons 


Eouud Pond. Mo 


30 
27 
17 
50 
9 
15 
10 
11 
24 
15 
15 
16 
10 


40 
30 
20 
70 
13 
16 
12 
10 
20 
15 
16 
16 
12 
14 


45 


40 


(*) 


Albert Gr.ay & Co 




30 
80 

tl7 
17 

tl8 
12 
25 
16 
2C 

9 


SO 
00 
15 
18 
18 
17 
25 
15 
13 
15 
12 


30 


rio 


60 


Gallup. Morsim & Co 

W. A. Wcils&Co 


East Boothbay, Mo 


15 
12 




East Booth ay, Mo 


20 




(*) 


Atlantic. Oil Company 


... do 




Itoiiud Pond Oil Vv^orks 


Rou; d Pond, Me 


15 


Brstol Oil Works 


...do 


15 


Suffolk Oil Works 


East Boothbay, Me 


18 


Loird's Island Oil Works 


Ilouud Poud, Me 


12 








Tnthill &Co 






11 
13 

18 
18 
15 
13 


14 


13 
































14 

20 


13 


George W. Miles & Co 








15 


Job T. Wilson 


131110 Hill Mo 








Peniaquid Oil Company 

Brown's Cove Oil Company.. 
Maddoeks' Oil Works 








40 
12 


130 










(*) 


Botthbav Mo 








20 














12 

















* Not operated. t Hodgdoa's Mills. t Bristol, Me. 

TuhJe showing statistics of the -manufacture of oil and guano in the Stnte of Maine. 



Number of lactori-s 

Number of sail- vessels 

N umber of steami^r.s 

Number of lisbermen 

Number of factory hands 
Numbf r of men — total. . . 

Capital in factories 

Capital in gear 

Capital — total 

N umber of tish (bbls) 

Number offish (M) 

Gallons of oil 

Tons of guano 



16, 000 



^78, 

§335, 

$613, 

4-20, 

143, 137, 

1, 204, 

12, 



13 

38 
17 
533 
249 
782 
500 
000 
500 
413 
61 6 
055 
965 



1874. 



14 

37 

22 

561 

301 

805 

S316, 000 

8390, 500 

^705, 500 

621, 861 

207, 287, 000 

1, 931, !7 

19, 295 



1875. 



17 
30 
31 

771 

373 

1,144 

$397, 000 

$482, COO 

$879, OOD 

635,771 

211,923,666 

1, 514, 881 

19, 395 



1876. 



17 

29 

43 

758 

371 

1, 129 

$^31,000 

$552, 000 

$983, 000 

709, 000 

238, 333, 000 

2,143,273 

21,414 



1r77. 



18 
13 

48 

727 

300 

1,027 

$459, 812 

§623, 8.i0 

$1, 083, 612 

5r,7, 145 

185, 715, COO 

1,166,213 

16, 666 



Returns for the United States. 
258. The following table, compiled from data fiirnisbed by Mr. Jasper 
Pryer, shows in detail the statistics of manufacture by some of the prin- 
cipal establishments: 



188 KEPOKT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



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o*" o' cs" oo" irf fo" o" 



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o o o o o o 
o o o o o o 

iri o*" *rr o" o" cT 
c^n r-i >-i lo 



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oo>oot^ooio::5-rooorco 



o o — oooo 

O O O JJ 'T (TJ O 
lO tO"^ t- »r3 rH r-* 



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00000*1 

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" I o" 1 r:r o' cT o" oo" cT ^^ rn" r-" x" •h" irT 



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in oo o o o o o 
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o o o o CI in o o cj 'X o no o TO o 

■<3'in-TTO'^tO-3'in'^J»OS<0 0«TO 



0000000 



Lo o o:: o o in 

•n* TO rt ^ in tH 



inooTOTJOoiinTOOjoinot-m 

^TO'Or-<r-ITOi-<rH.-Hf-i(Hi-lC< i-l 



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o c^ in o GO 

rl 1-1 Ct TO 



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t-5 F M O M t-5 P 



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.0 

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HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 



189 



o o o o oo 

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o o s o o c 



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130 KEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

The foliowing table shows the aggregate statistics for the United 
States for a period of five years: 

TahJe slioivinrj statistics of tlic manvfacture of tnenhadcn oil and guano in the United States 
in the years 1873, 1874, 1875, 1876, arid 1877. 

[Compiled from the Annual Eeports of Ihe TJDited States Menhaden Oil and Guano Association.] 



Nural)orof factories in operation 

!Nniiil)i'r of sail-vessela employed 

KumUer of steam-vessels employed 

JsTunibiT of men employed is fisheries . . 

Number of men employed in factories . . 

Total number of men employed 

Amountr of capitp.l invested 

Number of lish takca 

Number of fish taken (estimated in bar- 
rels) 

Number of gallons of oil made . . 

Numlior of tons of guano made 

Nural)er of palloDS of oil held by manu- 
facturers at the end of the year 

Number of tons of j;uano hela by manu- 
facturers at the end of the year 

Value of oil, at 37 ceuts 

Value of guano, at §11 

Total value of manufactured products.. 



1, 
1, 
o 

$2, 38r; 
397, 700, 

1, 193, 

2,214, 
36, 



2, 

$.^19, 
|3!)9, 
1, 218, 



64 
283 



1, 507 

2, 4J8 
82, SCO, COO 

492, 878, 000 

1, 478, 634 

3, 372, 837 

50, 97G 

643, 000 

5,200 

$1, 2 17, 950 

$560, 736 

$1, 808, 686 



60 

304 

39 



2,033 
SO, 650, 000 
563, 327, 000 

1, 877, 767 

2, 6r-l, 487 

53, 625 

125, 000 

1, 850 
$992, 140 

$5S9, 875 
|1, 582, 015 



64 

320 

46 



2, 758 
S2, 750, 000 
512,450,000 

*1, 535, 885 

2, 992. Oi)0 

51, 245 

264, 000 

7, 275 

§1,107,040 

1503, 695 

$1, 670, 735 



56 

270 

63 



2,631 

$2,047,612 
587, 624, 125 

1, 958, 747 

2, 426, 589 

55, 444 

94, 000 

2,840 

S997, 838 

§609, 884 

§1, 607, 722 



^ The Oil, Paint, and Drug Keporter for January 9, 1877, gives this as 1,708,166. 



A comparison of the yield of the whale and other fisheries. 

259. In 1875, the total amount of sperm oil from the American whale 
fisheries was 1,000,951 gallons; of other whale oil, 1,414,186 gallons; in 
all, 2,50.'-, 137 gallons. The amount of menhaden oil for the same year 
was 2,618,487 gallons, an excess of 176,350 gallons. In 1874, the amount 
of menhaden oil was 3,372,837 gallons, exceeding that of whale oil by 
1,115.597 gallons. 

In 1876, 2,990,000 gallons of menhaden oil were made, and in 1877, 
2,426,000, For the year ending June 30, 1877, the production of whale 
oil was 2,140,047 gallons, and for the year.1877, 2,151,765 gallons. 

In the ''Oil, Paint, and Drug Keporter" for January 14, 1874 (page 4), 
the following statement is made : 

" It is asserted that while the amount of oil produced is equal to that 
derived from the whale fisheries in this country, the menhaden interest 
is ahead of the whale, for though the menhaden oil sells at a less price 
per gallon, for every barrel of oil made there is three-quarters of a ton 
of scrap, which readily commands $15 per ton at the factory." 

This is not true. In 1874, for instance, the value of the sperm oil 
alone was $1,250,987; that of other oils from the whale fishery, $775,919. 
Total value of oils from the whales, $2,026,906; the value of the total 
products of the whale fishery, $2,291,896. 

By way of further comparison, the cod and seal-oil fishery of New- 
foundland and Labrador may be instanced. The latest figures at hand 
show the product of the seal oil fishery to be 1,500,000 gallons, and of 
the cod-oil fishery 900,000. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 191 

Comparison of yield of nitrogen from Guano Islands. 

260. The refuse products of the oil-factories, together with the fish 
used in a crude state for manure, are estimated to have yielded in 1875 
over 10,000,000 pounds of ammonia in the best possible organic forms. 
This quantity of ammonia is equivalent to at least 60,000,000 pounds 
of Ohincha Island guano, formerly imported from Peru, the gold value 
of which would be not far from $1,920,000. 

In addition to ammonia, the phosphate of lime derived from this source 
and convertible into agricultural products amounted to nearly 1,430,000 
l^ounds, which is the equivalent of nearly 60,000,000 pounds of Peru- 
vian guano. 

Associations of oil and guano manufacturers. 

2G1. The Association of the Menhaden Oil and Guano Manufacturers 
of Maine was formed in the year 1870. The objects were such as are 
usually sought by organizations of the sort — harmony of action on points 
affecting the common welfare of the business, social acquaintance, and 
the communication of information as to improved processes, etc. The 
annual meeting is held the second Tuesday in January of each year. The 
United States Menhaden Oil and Guano Association was organized in 
1873. The annual reports of these societies are given in full in Appen- 
dix L. 

40. THE USES OF MENHADEN OIL AND THE OIL MARKET. 

The uses of menhaden oil. 

2G2. The uses of menhaden oil are manifold. It is chiefly employed 
as a substitute for the more costly and popular oils and to adulterate 
them. It is sold largely to tanneries for currying leather. After the 
hide has been "dressed," i. e., after its coarser fleshy parts have been 
pared oft', the oil, mixed with tallow, is applied. This is technically 
called "stuffing," and results in qualifying any residue of alkali left from 
the "liming" process, and in filling the pores, and softening the leather. 
Mr. L. C. d'Homergue states that this oil is largely used in the tan- 
neries of Russia. 

A considerable quantity is used as a burning oil in coal-mines to fill 
the small lamps, one of which is fastened to the cap of each miner. It 
is then mixed with paraffine or some of the heavier oils. Some is also 
sold to be used in the manufacture of rope. A small quantity is used 
annually for lubricating i)urposes, but, on account of its gummj^ nature, 
it is not much in favor among machinists.* It is used in adulterating 
linseed oil, and is also sold as a substitute, its cheapness and durability 

*Mr. Isaac Bow, of Springfield, Mass., devoted several years to experimenting, with 
a view to the preparation of a good lubricating oil from menhaden oil, but his success 
was not satisfactory. 



192 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

rendering it especially valuable for rough outside work and for painting 
ships. Mixed with other oils it is found to be very serviceable for the 
painting of interiors, and its use is attended with decided economy, its 
price being about one-half that of the best linseed oil. Some of the most 
13ure is said to be put into the market as olive oil. 

Most of that which is exported is used in the manufacture of soap and 
for smearing sheep after they have been sheared to fceep off ticds. Mr. 
L. C. d'Homergue states in the Manufacturer and Builder that a bright 
fish oil, cut with some alcohol and mixed with paint, forms a far more 
lasting covering than linseed oil. 

The "Oil, Paint, and Drug Eeporter" for October 21, 1874, implies 
that much of the whale oil now sold is really menhaden oil. "It is well 
known that the chief uses for menhaden oil is for currying leather, but 
with the low prices ruling of late and the scarcity of whale-oil it has 
found new channels, and very much of the whale-oil sold probably 
consists of two-thirds or more of menhaden, for it comes when crude 
nearly as handsome as any whale, and in appearance when bleached is 
quite equal. It is reported as a fact about the street that one concern 
alone sells more * winter-bleached whale-oil' than is caught of crude, 
and they do not by any means get all the crude." 

The marlcets. 

263. The principal market for menhaden oil is in Boston and New 
York ; some is also sold in New Bedford, and considerable quantities 
are shipped to London, Liverpool, and Havre direct. 

Grades of oil. 

264. Several grades are recognized. The " Oil, Paint, and Drug Ee- 
porter" usually quotes under the heads of " select light strained," "select 
light," "choice brown," and "inferior to dark," and "gurry." 

TJie prices of oil. 

265. The highest price ever obtained for menhaden oil was $1.40 a 
gallon — this was a war price. In Appendix K is given a table showing 
the current weekly prices of the different grades of oil in the New York 
market for a period of nearly seven years. This has been compiled from 
the " Oil, Paint, and Drug Reporter," complete files of which I have been 
enabled to consult through the courtesy of the editor, Mr. W. O. Allison. 
This table includes all reliable information regarding the prices cur- 
rent of menhaden oil, and. its value is enhanced by the addition of a weekly 
commentary upon the causes of fluctuation in price and the state of the 
market, also compiled from the " Oil, Paint, and Drug Eeporter." Since 
the interest in the causes of rise and fall of price is of merely commer- 
cial interest, it does not seem to be necessary in this place to discuss the 
subject in detail. See Appendix K. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 



193 



Table khoir'nifi hifjhest 


iiid loires 


i 'prices of menhaden oil for 


the years 


1871 io 1877. 


Years. 


O 


o 
t-l 

o 

'o 

o 


o 

s- rt 


M 


5 
O 


■a 
a 

1 


4) 

(5 


ii 

" a 
o 

m 


ri 

o 

5 


1871 ^ 

1872 1 

1873 1 

1874 i 

1875 I 

1876 I 


53 to 55 
40ito4l 
024 to 65 
40 to 42* 
00 to 02' 
32J to 35 
45 to 47?, 
32.1 to 35" 
45 to 47* 

32 to 33' 
48 to 50 
32* to 33 
40 to 47 

33 to 34 


50 to 52? 
39* to 40" 
CO' to 02?, 
40 to 41 
59 to 00 

30 to 32 
45 to 40 
35 to 35.' 
43 to 44' 

31 to 32 
40 to 48 
32* to 33 
45 to 40 
33 to 34 


47* to 50 

35 to 38 
55 to 57?, 

36 to 38 
52 to 58 

29 to — 
42* to 45 
32 to 34 
38 to 4" 
20 to 30 

30 to — 
34 to 30 
40 to 42 
30 to 32 


35 to 40 

20 to 25 
45 to 50 
25 to 30 
48 to 50 


60 to 62^ 

58 to 00 
00 to 05 
58 to 05 














04 to 06 
45 to 50 
55 to 57* 






















524 to 55 
40 to 42 

49 to 50 
33 to — 

50 to 52* 
40 to 41 
48 to 50 
38 to 40 












55 to 56 
44 to 45 
55 to 60 














'''' 1 








53 to 54 






42i to 45 











Reviews of {lie marlcets. 

266. in January, 1874, the manufacturers composin.£f the "United States 
Menhaden Oil and Guano Association " had on hand 484,51*0 gallons of 
oil, or about 21 per cent, of the amount manufactured in 1873; in Janu- 
ary, 1875, 643,000 gallons, or about 19 per cent.; in January, 1876, 
]25,U00, or over 4 percent.; in January, 1877, 264,000, or over 8 per 
cent.; and in January, 1878, 94,000, or over 4 per cent. These hgures 
seem to indicate that the demand for oil quite keeps pace with the sup- 

ply. 

The following editorial on the value of menhaden oil appeared in the 
Oil, Paint and Drug Reporter, October 21, 1874: 

"Prices for menhaden oil have ruled very low this year, and it has 
probably been relatively the cheapest grease in market. This fact, 
together with a poor run of fish part of the season, caused several of the 
weakest of the manufacturers to close their works, and the natural re- 
sult has been less than an average season's production, except in Maine. 
The Maine season ended some time since, and the fall catch of the other 
States, which is usually the best, has thus far been comparatively noth- 
ing, and as it will soon close cannot be improved much. To-day we 
should estimate the stock in the hands of fishermen as fully one quar- 
ter less than last year, and with one exception the dealers in this city 
are almost without stock. 

"The entire failure of the Arctic whaling-fleet, the high price of all 
other grease, and the advance in the price of Newfoundland cod oil 
l)oint to advanced prices for menhaden. We said early in the season 
that menhaden oil was cheap at 40 cents, and it ought not to have gone 
below that price. At the present time some parties talk of 50 cents as 
the point the market will reach, but we hope that manufacturers will 
not hold for such high prices ; this would be as much too high as 35 cents 
was too low, and as soon as you get an article above its real value some- 
thing takes its place and you cannot get it into the same channels until 
it becomes so low that it is forced back." 
13 F 



194 KEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

K— MENHADEN AND OTHER FISH AND THEIR PRODUCTS 
AS RELATED TO AGRICULTURE. 

By W. O. Atwater. 

Introductory note. 

2G7. Mr. Goode has placed in my hands a number of documents, 
manuscripts, and letters couceruing the use of fish, and i)articularly 
menbaden, as fertilizers, with a request for a statement of the more 
important facts and principles that have to do with the application of 
these materials to the improvement of agriculture. 

The time allowed for this work is, unfortunately, so short as to forbid 
anything more than a hasty putting together of the data immediately at 
hand, in the form of a brief review of the history and a still more in- 
complete outline of the results of scientific investigation and practical 
experience concerning the preparation, properties, and uses of fish as a 
fertilizer and as food for stock. I hope that this may serve to explain 
the chief practical bearings of the subject, to show its importance, and 
lead to its more thorough investigation hereafter. 

The employment of fish products in agriculture offers a singularly 
forcible illustration of the slowness with which the worth of some of the 
most valuable materials is recognized, and of the need of scientific inves- 
tigation and experiment to aid practical skill in utilizing them most 
profitably. 

The loss to the agriculture of our country at large, and particularly 
our sea-board States, from the waste of fish that might be utilized, the 
■wrong manufacture of the materials that are saved, the export of the 
best products to Europe, the uneconomical use as fertilizers of what 
we save and keep at home, and from the almost entire neglect to devote 
the products to their most profitable purpose, feeding stock and enrich- 
ing the manure of the farm, if it were capable of accurate estimate, 
could not fall short of some millions of dollars annually. This is due 
mainly to the fact that the principles that underlie the right economiz- 
ing of fish are not generally understood, and, for that matter, are not 
yet fully learned. It is only lately that science has joined with prac- 
tice in studying and improving the manufacture and use of fish prod- 
ucts for agricultural purposes. The best work in investigation has 
been done in Europe; its results come to us but tardily. Manufactur- 
ers hesitate to apply and farmers are still slower to use them. Every- 
thing that brings new knowledge or extends the understanding of 
"What is known must, then, be most valuable. 



history of the american menhaden. 195 

47. Menhaden and other fish in a fresh state used as a fer- 
tilizer. 

Use among the Indians and early colonists. 

2G8. Professor Trumball tells us that the Indian names of Brevoortia, 
" menhaden " and " poghaden " (pogy), mean " fertilizer," that which 
manures, and that the Indians were accustomed to employ this species, 
with others of the herring tribe (aumt-uog and munnawhateaug), mostly 
the alewife {Pomolohus pseudoharengiis), in enriching their corn-fields. 
Thomas Morton wrote in 1632, of Virginia : " There is a fish (by some 
called shadds, by some allizes) that at the spring of the yeare jiasse up 
the rivers to spawn in the ponds, & are taken in such multitudes in 
every river that hath a pond at the end that the inhabitants doung their 
grounds with them. You may see in one township a hundred acres to- 
gether, set with these fish, every acre taking 1,000 of them, & an acre 
thus dressed will produce and yeakl so much corne as 3 acres without 
fish ; & (least auy Virginea man would inferre hereupon that the ground 
of New England is barren, because they use no fish in setting their 
corne, I desire them to be remembered, the cause is plaine in Virginea) 
they have it not to sett. But this practice is onely for the Indian maize 
(which must be set by hands), not for English grain : & this is, therefore, 
a commodity there."* 

This passage is very interesting, showing the use of fish fertilizers in 
Virginia two hundred and fifty years ago or more, and, from what is 
known of the habits of the herring family in V^irgiuia rivers and the 
persistency of local names, there can be little doubt that many menha- 
den were used among the fertilizing fish, though " shadds and allizes" 
doubtless includes the shad (Alosa sapidissima), the mattowocca {Pomo- 
lohus mediocris), the alewife {Fomolohus pseudoJiarengus), and the thread- 
herring (Borosoma cepedianum), all of which are common in spring in 
the Potomac ana other rivers which empty into Chesapeake Bay. 

In Governor Bradford's "History of Plimoth Plantation" an account 
is given of the early agricultural experiences of the Plymouth colonists. 
In April, 1G21, at the close of the first long dreary winter, " tbey (as 
many as were able) began to plant their corne, in which service Squanto 
(an Indian) stood them in great stead, showing them both y® manner 
how to set it and after how to dress & tend it. Also he tould them, ax- 
cepte they got fish & set with it (in these old grounds) it would come to 
nothing; and he showed them y* in y'^ midle of Aprill, they should have 
store enough come up y® brooke by which they begaue to build, and 
taught them how to take it." t 

* New Euglaad Canaan; or New Canaan, containing an abstract of New England. 
Composed in three Eookes. * * » Written by Thomas, of Clifford's Inn, 
Gent. Upon ten Yeers knowledge & Experiment of the Country. Printed by Charles 
Green, 1632. Force's Historical Tracts, Vol. II, .? 

t Coll. Mass. Hist. Soc, III, 4th series, 1856, p. 100. 



196 . REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

An alluwon to the practice of the Indians in this respect may be found 
in George Mourt's " Relation or Journal of the beginning and Proceed- 
ings of the English Plantation settled at Plimoth, in New England, by 
certain English Adventurers both Merchants and others." * * * 
'^Loudon, 1G22": " We set the last spring some twenty acres of Indian 
corn, and sowed some six acres of barley and peas, and, according to the 
manner of Indians, we manured our ground with herrings, or rather 
shads, which we have in great abundance and take with great ease at 
our doors. Our corn did prove well, and God be praised, we had a good 
increase of Indian corn, and our barley indifferent good."* * * * 

Again, in Edward Johnson's " Wonder working Providence of Sion's 
Saviour in New England, Being a Relation of the firste planting in New 
England in the yeere 1628, London, 1051," written in 1652, the author 
says : " But the Lord is pleased to provide for them [the colonists] great 
store of tish in the spring-time, especially alewives, about the bignesse 
of a herring. Many thousands of these they used to put under their 
Indian corne, which they plant in Hills five foot asunder; and assuredly 
when the Lord created this corne, hee had a speciall eye to supply these 
his peoples wants with it, for ordinarily five or six grains doth produce 
six hundred."t 

Use at the beginning of tJie present century and later. 

269. Menhaden do not appear to have been much used by agricultur- 
ists of Cape Cod in the beginning of this century, though the old record 
shows that the horse-shoe crab and seaweed were extensively applied. 

In 1792 the Hon. Ezra L'Hommedieu, of New York, published a paper 
in the New York Agricultural Transactions f which gives somewhat 
more accurate data and directions concerning the use of fish as 
a fertilizer. He says : " Experiments made by using the fish called 
menhaden or mosbankers as a manure have succeeded beyond all 
expectation. * * * lu dunging corn in the holes, put two in 
a hill on any kind of soil where corn will grow, and you will have 
a good crop." He recommends them as a top dressing for grass. 
" Put them on a piece of poor loamy land, at the distance of fifteen 
inches from each other, * * * and by their putrefaction they so 
enrich the land that you may mow about two tons per acre." But he 
adds, verj^ wisely, " how long this manure will last has not yet been 
determined." He gives, in his quaintly interesting way, an account 
of " an experiment made the last summer by one of my cear neighbors, 
Mr. Tuthill, in raising vegetables with this fish manure," which is worth 
citing as an illustration of the curious combinations of truth and error, 
which, in their lack of definite knowledge of the laws of plant-growth 
and the action of manures, the theorizers of that time invented. 

*• Coll. Mass. Hist. Soc, 2d series, IX, 1832, p. GO. 
tColl. Mass. Hist. Soc, 2cl series, III, 1816, 158. 
\ See Appendix O. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN, 19T 

''About the first of June be [Mr. Tutbill] carted near balf an oxcart 
load of tbose fisb on twenty feet square of poor, ligbt land, being loam 
mixed with sand. The fish he spread as equally as he could by throw- 
ing them out of the cart; being exposed to the weather, they were soon 
consumed. He then raked off the bones, to prevent their hurting the 
feet of the children who might go into the garden, and ploughed up the 
piece and planted it with cucumbers and a few cabbages. The season 
was extremely dry, and but few cucumbers grew in the neighborhood 
except what grew on this small piece, and here the production exceeded 
anything that had before been known. By his own computation and 
that of his neighbors, this twenty feet square of ground produced more 
than forty bushels of cucumbers, besides some fine cabbages. I meas- 
ured the ground myself, and have no doubt of the quantity adjudged 
to have grown on the same." 

Mr. L'Homraedieu's theoretical explanation of this is clear and siinple. 
The fish " enrich the land by their putrefaction." When this process 
has ceased he questions whether much more good can be expected from 
them, and doubts if they will make a lasting manure; nor does he 
find any fault with his neighbor for raking away the bones instead 
of covering them with earth to prevent their pricking his children's bare 
feet. In the decomposition a good deal of "effluvia" is evolved, which 
is evidently absorbed by the leaves of the plants, and contributes to 
their growth. But " by putting these fish on the laud for manure, ex- 
posed to the air until they are consumed, there can be no doubt that a 
considerable part of the manure is lost by the effluvia which passes off 
the putrefied substance, as is evident from the next experiment." This 
was made by " Mr. Joseph Glover, a farmer in Suffolk County," who 
had evidently learned the art of composting fish with earth, and prac- 
ticed it in a way which some farmers nowadays might improve their 
ways by imitating. 

" He first carts earth and makes a bed of such circumference as will 
admit of being nine inches thick ; he then puts on one load of fish, then 
covers this load with four loads cf common earth, but if he can get rich 
dirt he covers it with six loads, and in that manner makes of fish and 
earth a heap of about thirty loads. The whole mass soon becomes im- 
pregnated and turns black. By experience he finds that fifteen oxcart 
loads of this manure is a sufficient dressing for one acre of his [)Oor land, 
which produces him thirty bushels of the best wheat by the acre." 

Now it happened that Mr. Glover made a heap of fish and earth "iu 
the manner above rehited near a fence where a field of wheat was grow- 
ing on the opposite side. The wheat near the heap soon changed its 
colour, grew luxuriant, and at harvest yielded near double the quantity 
to the other parts of the field." The in)provement iu the wheat near the 
heap, Mr. L'Hommedieu thinks, must be due to the " effluvia arising 
from the putrefaction of the fish and absorbed by the leaves of the 
wheat." 



198 KEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

President Dwigbt, of Yale College, visiting Eastern Long Island in 
1804, speaks with n)ucli approval of the menhaden as a fertilizer, aud 
thus describes the introduction of its use: 

''Their agriculture has, withia a few years, been greatly improved. 
For a considerable period before the date of this journey the land had 
become generally impoverished by a careless husbandry, in which the 
soil was only exhausted, aud no attem[)ts were made to renew its 
strength. * * * Within this period the inhabitants, with a laudable 
spirit of enterprise, have set themselves to collect manure wherever it 
could be found. Not content with what they could make and find on 
their own farms and shores, they have sent their vessels up the Hudson 
and loaded them with the residuum of potash manufactories, gleaned 
the streets of New York, and have imported various kinds of manure 
from New Haven, New London, and even from Hartford. In addition 
to all this, they have swept the Sound, aud covered their fields with the 
immense shoals of white-fish with which, in the beginning of summer, 
its waters are replenished. No manure is so cheap as this, where the 
fish abound ; none is so rich, and few are so lasting. Its effects on veg- 
etation are prodigious. Lands which heretofore have scarcely yielded 
ten bushels of wheat by the acre, are said, when dressed with white-fish, 
to have yielded forty. The number caught is almost incredible. It is 
here said, and that by persons of very fair reputation, that 150,000 hav^e 
been taken at a single draught. Such, upon the whole, have been their 
numbers, and such the ease with which they have been obtained, that 
lands in the neighborhood of productive fisheries are declared to have 
risen, withiu a few years, to three, four, and, in some cases, to six times 
their former value."* 

Elsewhere he speaks with equal favor of its use in Connecticut, re- 
marking that it is remarkably favorable to vegetation of every kind, 
which is the object either of agriculture or horticulture : 

" Within the last twenty years the inhabitants of this [Branford] and 
other townships along the coast have employed for the purposes of 
manure the white-fish, a species of herring remarkably fat and so full 
of bones that it cannot conveniently be eaten. In the mouths of June 
and July these fish frequent the Sound in shoals, and are caught with 
seines in immense multitudes. Ten thousand are considered as a rich 
dressing for an acre. No manure fertilizes ground in an equal degree; 
and none seems more universally favorable to the productions of the 
climate. Wheat, particularly, grows under its influence iu the most 

prolific manner, and is peculiarly safe from blasting. 

# * * * * * * 

" The following is a strong instance of the fertility of Jand manured 
with white-fish : Mr. David Dibble, of Kiliingworth, from 5.J acres of 
land dressed with this manure, had in the year 1812, 214J bushels of rye, 

* Dwight's Travels, III, 1622, p. 305. Jouruey to LoDg Island, 1804, Letter II, 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 199 

almost 45 bushels to an acre ; the most exuberant crop of this grain 
which I have known in JSew England." * 

In 1819, HiiV. D. D. Field spoke of the use of fish as manure as follows : 
" The most efficacious manure in the vicinity of the Sound consists of 
the white-fish which visit tbe shores in numerous numbers in June and 
the first part of July. These began to be used for manure in Middlesex 
in 1801 and 1803. They are carried as soon as taken and spread upon 
the land and plowed in ; or are thrown into heaps, mixed and covered 
with earth or turf and suffered to pulv^erize ; and are then spread upon 
the ground as suits the convenience of the farmers. In either mode the 
effect even on dry and poor land is wonderful, and though it was at first 
apprehended by many that after two or three crops they would leave the 
land poorer than they found it, experience has hitherto proved this 
apprehension to be groundless. 

" Eight thousand are requisite to dress an acre. They have been sold 
lately for a dollar and a balf per thousand." t 

Dr. DeKay in the ISTatural History of New York, 1842, says : 

'' The use of this fish as a manure is well known in the counties of 
Suffolk, Kings and Queens, where it is a source of great wealth to the 
farmer who lives upon the sea coast. They are used in various ways : 
For Indian corn, two or three are thrown on a hill ; for wheat, they are 
thrown broadcast on the field and plowed under, although it is not un- 
common to put them in layers alternately with common mold, and when 
decomposed s[)read it like any other compost. Its effects in renovating 
old grass fields, when spread over with these fish at the rate of about 
two thousand to tbe acre, are very remarkable." 

In 1853, Mr. Ker B. Hamilton, governor of Newfoundland, in a 
"Dispatch to the Duke of Newcastle" on "the Eefuse of the Cod 
Fishery of Newfoundland as convertible into a Portable Manure," says : 

" In this island the manure universally applied to the soil is fish, con- 
sisting of the superabundant herrings and caplins in the process of 
decomposition, and generally without any earthy admixture ; and the 
heads, bones, and entrails of codfish, after having been decomposed and 
formed into a compost with clay or peat-bog earth. Thismanure * * * 
when applied to the thin, gravelly, unpromising soil (on the Island of 
Newfoundland) yields crops of grass and potatoes which, in growth and 
productiveness cannot be surpassed elsewhere." | 

Messrs. Boardman and Atkins, in their excellent report on " The Men- 
haden and Herring Fisheries of Maine,"§ to which we shall have frequent 

* Dwight's Travels, III, 1822, p. 513, 514, 516. 

t A I Statistical Account | of the | County of Middlesex, | in | Connecticut. | = | By 
David D. Field. | = | Published by the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences, | 
Middletown, Conn. | Printed by Clark &■ Lyraan. | | April, 1819. 8 vo, p. 1.53. 

t Jour. Roy. Ag. Soc, Ist ser., XIV, 1853, p. 393. 

$ Agriculture of Maine, 1875-6, page 1. 



200 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

occasion to refer, say : " More than thirty years ago, before fish oil had 
becomeamarketablecommodity,the farmers of our eastern coast [Maine] 
were in the habit of using the fish whole in different forms. In some cases, 
two or three fish were put in a hill for corn, and covered before the corn 
was planted ; in others they were covered by being thrown into the furrow 
as the land was being plowed, while in instances less frequent they were 
made into a compost and applied as a top-dressing. These were the 
ruder forms of using fish as a fertilizer, and generally practiced before 
the manufacture of oil and the consequent accumulation of lish scrap." 
A method similar to the above was formerly in use among the farmers 
of N^ew Jersey. Prof. George H. Cook, in his report on the geology 
of that State, says the practice there was to plow a furrow alongside 
the rows of corn, deposit the fish, and then turn the furrow back again, 
covering them. In this way the farmers carried their corn through to 
maturity, and good crops were gathered from the poorest and lightest 
soils in the State. A Massach»isetts correspondent of the " Country Gen- 
tleman" (vol. 5, page 152) says the application offish compost "appears 
to ameliorate the effects of drouth." 

Use at the present day. 

270. Mr. Goode states : " even at this day the fish are often applied 
to the soil in a crude state, though the manufactured fertilizers are su- 
perseding it in most localities. Gov. Caleb Lyon tells me that two or 
three times every summer Stateu Island is visited by smacks loaded 
with menhaden, which are quickly bought up by the farmers. In plant- 
ing corn, they put two or three fish in each hill, and so with potatoes ; 
when they plant potatoes in rows, a continuous line of menhaden is 
placed in the bottom of the furrow, head to tail. In 1871, according to 
Mr. J. M. K. Southwick,mauy menhaden were sold for manure in Rhode 
Island at 30 cents a barrel. Duriug the five years previous he had sold 
about 75 barrels for this purpose." 

Until very lately it has been, certainly, and for aught I know is still, 
the custom of farmers on the Connecticut coast to use whole fish as a 
top-dressing. 

48. Fish scrap as manure. 

TJw inception of its use. — Experience in Maine. 

271. As a result of the profitable utilization of fish for the manufacture 
of oil, the use of the whole fish as a fertilizer has gradually and almost 
entirely ceased, and given place to the refuse from which the oil has 
been expressed or otherwise extracted. This is known in its crude 
state as "fish scrap," " fish pomace," or "chum," and when more care- 
fully prepared, as " dry fish," " dry ground fish," and " fish guano." 
Still farmers have been slow to avail themselves of this more concen- 
trated material. Messrs. Boardman and Atkins, in the report referred 
to, say : 



HISTORY OF THE AMEEICAN MENHADEN. 201 

"Its use in Maine even in this way, notwithstanding the results were 
almost always satisfactory, except in some instances where it was used 
in too large quantities, did not seem to extend to any great extent back 
into the interior; and even along the coast where farmers could get the 
scrap for the hauling, not half of them made any use of it. When the 
business of extracting oil from menhaden was first engaged in along 
the coast of Hancock County, and especially in Union Kiver Bay, the 
works were situated on shipboard, and the scrap was thrown overboard 
into the bay. The result of this was to drive out all the deep-water 
fish, as mackerel, cod, &c., and this was continued for many years. 
On the first establishment of oil works at Bluehill Falls and other 
places the scrap was given away, and farmers could get a scow-load 
any time they wished. It is said that the farmers in the town of Brook- 
lin first utilized the scrap by applying it to the land, and during days 
when no catch of menhaden would give work at the factories, the men 
would cart the scrap away and spread it as a top dressing on grass 
lands. It was used green from the press, and on the sandy soil of that 
town its good eifects were most maiked. Afterwards, it began to be 
composted with muck or with fine loam, au(J was applied to potatoes and 
grass with excellent results. As a top dressing to mowing fields it was 
spread on after haying, and in this way was generally used fresh. Too 
large an application was found to induce too rapid a growth of grass 
and to cause it to rust, and it also gave a fishy flavor to the hay, not 
relished by cattle ; but these matters were gradually learned from expe- 
rience in its use, and as gradually mastered and overcome. As its value 
became known its price advanced, and for several years, from about 
1858 to 1864, it went up to SCOO per ton." 

Experience in Connecticut. — Mr. Clift. 

272. At a meeting of the Connecticut Board of Agriculture in Decem- 
ber, 1873, Rev. Wm. Clift, of Mystic Bridge, gave a lecture on "Marine 
Manures."* This was followed by a discussion, in which a number of 
the best farmers of the State took part, and is interesting, as showing 
what the practical experience of men who have used fish scrap as ration- 
ally as intelligent farmers do anywhere, says of its uses and value. Mr. 
Clift said : 

"Along the shores [of the Long Island Sound] where I have lived for 
the last twenty-five or thirty years, very large quantities of white-fish, 
or menhaden, are taken for the purpose of making oil. Formerly they 
were taken simply for the purpose of making manures, and were caught 
in very large quantities all along our shore and ov^er on Long Island, 
in large seines, which were generally owned by companies composed of 
farmers. These fish were carted by the farmers quite long distances, 
spread broadcast over their fields, and left to putrefy in the open air, 
and then along in the fall they would be plowed in for rye and for other 
* Report of Conu. Board of Agriculture, 1873, p. 197. 



202 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

crops. This, of course, was a very wasteful process, as a large part of 
the aramouia which the decaying fish furnished went off into the air; 
still, it was a very valuable manure used even in that way. I^ot only 
were white-fish taken, but very large quantities of sharks, and some 
valuable food-fishes were oftentimes taken in connection with these fish, 
which were caught expressly for manure. Latterly the oil has become 
exceedingly valuable, so that the companies now take the fish for the 
purpose of procuring the oil, and the refuse, what remains after the oil 
has been expressed, is sold for manure. I suppose about forty millions 
of white-fish are taken annually along the shore of Fisher's Island, in 
the sound, between New London and Stouington, a distance of not more 
than ten miles, probably, and there are some six or eight companies 
that have been organized for the purpose of taking these fish. These 
companies are quite prosperous, and a source of quite large income, 
not only to those who are engaged in fishing, but to other people. 
They make a market for the wood of the farmers in all that region. It 
is quite a common thing for the farmers to exchange their wood for this 
fish scrap. About two cords of wood, delivered on the shore, will buy a 
ton of this fish scrap. * * * Sometimes they get it in season for the 
farm [spring?] crops or turnips, and always in season for the rye 
crop in the fall. The price is from $13 to $16 per ton. * * * 
A great deal of it goes up the Connecticut Eiver. The tobacco raisers 
know the value of fish scrap, and it is sent quite a distance into the 
country. * * * The farmers all along the coast use the fish scrap 
in what is called a 'fish pie.' The scrap is drawn to the farm, a few 
furrows are turned up near where they want to use the fish scrap the 
next year, a layer of scrap is put over these furrows, then a layer of 
sods and so on, forming a compost heap four or five feet high. Probably 
eight or ten times as much earth as scrap is used, in bulk or weight. 
After it has lain a few weeks in this condition, it is forked or shoveled 
over, so that it is all intimately mixed, and the scrap very nearly' 
absorbed by the soil, and in that condition it is fit either to be spread 
upon the ground for rye or for corn crop the next season. It is also 
used in connection with stable manure. The scrap is carted into the 
yard where the stable and yard manure is heaped up, and mixed with: 
that ; it adds very greatly to the value of yard manure. They will put, 
perhaps, one ton of the scrap to ten tons or more of yard manure ; and 
then, after it has remained two or three weeks, it is carted off for top- 
dressing for corn or potatoes, or the ordinary crops of the farm. I have 
used fish scrap for the last three years on the rye crop, and find it 
exceedingly beneficial and economical. The soil where I use it is a 
gravelly loam, very well underdrained, but it has been pretty well 
exhausted by long cropping. I spread about half a ton of this manure 
to the acre, and get a very satisfactory yield of rye from this light dress- 
ing. It costs me about seven or eight dollars an acre for the manure, 
and I get in return for it about fifteen bushels of rye to the acre, and 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 203 

uearlj' a ton of straw. The straw sells with us for about twenty dollars 
a ton, and rye is worth from ninety cents to a dollar a bushel ; so that 
for a very small expenditure for manure I get very satisfactory crops of 
rye. * * * A year ago last summer I used a ton of fish scrap on 
half an acre of land. It was nothing but gravel. There was hardly 
any vegetable matter ; none but what had grown out of the gravel, and, 
perhaps, a little washed from the surrounding land. I did not pay any- 
thing for the land; the owner did not consider it worth anything. I 
got a glorious crop of corn, cabbages, and potatoes on that little piece 
of land, by the use of a ton of fish scrap." 

With regard to the value of green and dried scrap and the loss in 
drying, Mr. Clift says : 

"As it comes from the press, after all the oil has been pressed out of 
it that can be gotten out by the strongest hydraulic pressure, there is 
still a great deal of moisture in it — 40 or 50 per cent. As it lies on 
the platform under cover, there is, of course, a constant loss of moisture, 
but there is also a loss of ammonia, which is very valuable, so that I 
am not able to say whether the lish scrap is any more valuable after it 
has lain a month or two in the house than when it first comes from the 
press. I think I should prefer to take it as it comes from the press. I 
think the ammonia which is lost is worth more than will be gained by 
the evaporation of the water. Fish-scrap, at $12 to $15 per ton, is the 
cheapest manure we can buy. It is the only commercial fertilizer I have 
bought for the last six or eight years. I do not invest in superphos- 
phates or bone-dust. I would invest in the latter if I could get a pure 
article, but when it is half plaster of Paris I do not know whatl am buy- 
ing. But this article, when it comes from the factory, is generally fish 
scrap and nothing else, it always produces just about the same result. 
You can depend upon it. If you apply one or two tons to the acre, you 
know what you will gain by its use if it is properly put into the soil 
and yon have a fair season. I think it is a perfectly secure investment 
for the farmer to make." 

Experience of Mr. Rail and Mr. Loveland. 

273. Some of the discussion which followed is worthy of note. Mr. 
Hall, of Wallingford, remarked: 

" My experience in regard to fish-scrap is that when it comes from the 
press it is about 65 per cent, water. ]Srow if that is worth $12 to $15 a 
ton to carry back ten or twenty miles into the country, when you come 
to add the freight and the inconvenience of handling it to the freight, I 
should consider the dried the cheapest. I have used a great many tons 
myself, and I have always used the dry as the most economical. I have 
been so situated I could have either, but I preferred the dry ; and as Mr. 
Ciift has said, by analysis, it was a cheap manure at the prices at which 
it was sold." Mr. Clift replied : " Mr. Hall means a different thing by 
dried fish guano, from what soma gentlemen do by ' dried fish.' He 



204 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

means the article spread upon a platform, aud made as dry as it can be 
in that way. What is termed 'dried lish' is another thing. It will 
take from two to two and a half tons of fresh fish to make a ton of dry, 
and after that has lain in a tight building for some time, it will take two 
tons of that to make a ton of the dry guano. When the green manure 
is spread out and immediately dried in the sun, there is no loss of ammo- 
nia, but when it is kept in a pile, of course putreftiction begins, and as 
it advances there is loss of ammonia. There is no considerable loss of 
ammonia by drying in the sun and ofcoursethedry manure, finely ground, 
is very much more valuable than that which is dried in a heap where 
there is a great loss of ammonia." 
Mr. Loveland said of his experience with fish-scrap : 
" I would say that I have had considerable experience with fish- scrap, 
having used it for the last eight or ten years. I bought it as it is pre- 
pared by the companies at Milford, where it is produced as a superphos- 
phate, and sold at the rate of $45 a ton. I have used it with Bradley's 
superphosphate, with Coe'sand with Wilson's on tobacco and other crops, 
and wherever I have used it in connection with these high-priced manures, 
I have found that the fish manure was fully equal to them ; it bore up 
its crop as well as any of the commercial fertilizers in the market. I 
have bought it in the green state mostly, in bags and barrels, and it has 
cost me about $23 a ton to get it up to the north part of the State. I 
have not used this fish-scrap much by spreading it upon lands in its raw 
state, nor by putting it into the hill, as they do in Lyme, and on the 
coast, in raising potatoes and the like. I have seen some instances in our 
town where it has been spread upon the ground in a raw state, and then 
the tobacco set, and the effect has been to stop the growth of the tobacco. 
Tt has been too powerful in that condition for the tobacco to grow upon 
it ; and where it has been used in that wa^^, I have never seen half a crop 
of tobacco. My method has been to compost it, invariably, and I be- 
lieve that is the true method of using such a fertilizer as that. It is a 
fertilizer having all the elements of an organized body. It contains all 
of the fish that we desire ; the oil that has been taken out we hold to be 
of no use in agriculture. Coming to us in the green state from the fac- 
tory, it has not lost any of its ammonia to speak of, and in that state it 
must be a perfect manure, because there is no adulteration in it. In com- 
posting it, I have used muck, treated with lime and salt — about four 
cart-loads of muck to four or five hundred pounds of the fish, building 
up a large pile of it, in that proportion, which, after a while, begins to 
heat, and the whole mass is leavened and brought into oneness of con- 
dition. The fish-scrap fertilizes the whole mass with its elements, and 
it may then be spread upon natural grass-land or cultivated ground, and 
will invariably produce a very fine crop. It never has failed with me 
to produce a good crop, and where I have manured grounds in that way 
and seeded them down, I have got good crops of grass for years in suc- 
cession afterwards." 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 205 

Statements hy Professor CooJc, of Kew Jersey. 

274. Prof. G. H. Cook, of New Jersey, iu his report as secretary of 
the State Board of Agriculture, writes:* 

"The supply of material for fish guauo is almost unlimited iu this 
State, aud it only needs capital and .skill to build up a business of great 
importance to the State and proht to the manufacturer. On the coasts 
of Long Island and of Maine, where the business has been carried on 
for the oil which could be got from the fish, the residuum has been sold 
at various prices, from $15 to S30 a ton, and has been a very popular 
fertilizer with those who have used it. It is sought for by the manufac- 
turers of superphosphate of lime, to mix with their product, and there 
can be no doubt that it is very beneficial in such a mixture, giving quick- 
ness to its action, while the superphosphate would add to the duration 
of efiflciency. When this source of manure is [)roperly worked, it can be 
made to sui)ply all the guano needed iu the State." 

Professor Cook says, also :t 

" While the most common mode of using these fish is in the hill or 
furrow for corn, they are often employed in a compost with barn-yard 
manure and a little lime. Those icho have tried such a mixture say that 
it is superior to any guano in the marlcet. When applied on corn the crop 
is considered as certain. Some farmers mix them with muck and apply 
the compost upon wheat. This fertilizer is wonderlully rapid in its ef- 
fects, showing changes in the growth of a crop in a few days after it has 
been applied. But it is not a lasting manun*. In a year or two this 
stimulating effect is gone, and a second application is necessary. For 
producing quick results it is so efflcient that all farmers who have tried 
it unite in testifying to its value," 

Further experience in Maine. — Messrs. HinJcley, Kenniston, Smith, and 

Collins. 

275. On pages 47 to 55 of the report of Messrs. Boardman and Atkins, 
referred to, are some '■ Practical Notes on the Use of Fish Scrap as a Fer- 
tilizer," which contain a number of items of experience of Maine farmers 
worth quoting: 

" Hon. J. T. Hinkley of Bluehill, in a private letter, writes : 'I have 
never used but it in one way. I mix it with fine dirt or sand, and use it as 
a top dressing on grass-land. A dressing of one ton of chum mixed with 
five times that amount of dirt is about the quantity I would put on one- 
half acre of land, and from that I have a good crop of gra.-s for four to 
five years without injury to the land. * * * There is an objection here 
to dressing too heavily with scrap, as it injures the quality of the hay; but 
using it at the rate of one ton to the acre, in a compost of three parts 
loam, will produce no effects of this nature.' Now to correct the error 

* First Aunual Report of the New Jersey State Board of Agriculture, 1874, page 44. 
t Geology of New Jersey, 1868, p. 498. 



206 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

into which a good many farmers are led by statements that the appli- 
cation of fish-scrap, or other active special manures, like guano or 
superphosphate, damaged the land, rendering it unproductive and ster- 
ile; it may be stated here that the real cause of this sterility does not 
come from the application of these so-called forcing manures which are 
ap[)lied to the land, but from the taking oft' of the large crops which 
follow their application. They exhaust the soil by drawing from it ele- 
ments which the manure put on does not contain, and which repeated 
applications of the same fertilizer would not supply ; it is in fact the 
crop taken off, not the manure put on, which injures the land. But it 
must also be remembered that after land has been brought up to a con- 
dition of productive capacity by the use of fish-scrap or special fertili- 
zers, it can be kept so only by the application of stable and barn-yard 
manure, or the manure made by consuming the hay grown upon the 
soil thus improved. This should invariably and in all cases be given 
back to the land, or the time will speedily come when it will refuse to 
'discount.'" 

" Mr. William Kenniston, of North Boothbay, furnishes some interest- 
ing statements regarding the use of scrap upon his farm. He has used it 
more or less for the past eight or ten years, and says he 'could not farm 
without it.' He hauls it from the factorj^ generally late in the fall, as it is 
dryer then and less objectionable to handle, and composts it with yard 
and stable manure, muck, and loam. When one year old this is hauled out 
and spread, in the fall or winter, wherever it is most convenient to do so, 
at the rate of about eight cart-loads to the acre. In using the scrap with- 
out being composted, as he has sometimes done, he regards one ton of well- 
dried scrap better than three just as it comes from the press. The dry 
scrap is much easier and better to handle, and may be used on grass at the 
rate of three tons to the acre ; but the raw scrap from the press should 
invariably be composted. In 18G7 he used five tons of scrap mostly in 
a green state. It killed the corn, the grain lodged and was damaged, 
and grass has lodged on the piece ever since, although no manure has 
been applied since. He had spread it on grass fields both in the spring 
aud fall, but preferred the latter. Mr. Kenniston believes if the scrap 
was packed in barrels just as it came from the press it would sfand 
transportation by steamer or rail to almost any i)art of the interior of 
Maine without becoming offensive. 

" The farmers in Machias purchase herring chum from Lubec, whence 
it is brought in small schooners. It is usually packed in barrels of from 
220 to 280 pounds each, at $11.50 per ton, but is not used in very large 
quantity. Lobster chum, from the canning factories at Englishman's 
IJiver, is also made use of to some extent as a top dressing. It is ob- 
tained in scows and boats at about 81.50 per ton, delivered in Machias 
and vicinity. One ton of it is composted with ten loads of common loam, 
and this amount spread upon an acre. Applied to grass laud In the 
fall, the results are most satisfactory." 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 207 

"Mr. H. T. Smith, of Macbias, has perhaps made a larger use offish- 
scrap, as a fertilizer, in different ways, than any farmer in that plaee or 
vicinity. His usual practice is to obtain the scrap (generally herring 
scraj)) in the fall, and apply it in the spring. When grass land is in fair 
condition he uses about one-fourth of a ton per acre, and never more 
than one and one-fourth ton i^er acre. It is, of course, less expensive to 
apply it directly to the land as it comes from the press, but it is often 
composted, using three parts of earth to one of scrap. For grain, 
Mr. Smith has plowed under seven hundred pounds to the acre, from 
which he has grown very heavy crops of barley, oats, and wheat. Mr. 
Smith says : ' I have paid $80 per ton for superphosphate, and if given 
my choice had rather have one ton of fish scrap than one ton of super- 
phosphate. If barrelled as soon as it comes from the press (he is speak- 
ing of herring scrap, which, it will be remembered, is treated with salt 
before being pressed), it has no unpleasant odor, and is not offensive to 
handle. There is nothing equal to it for the land. It is as valuable as 
night-soil, and is good for grass, grains, corn, garden crops, anything 
that grows out of the earth.'" 

" Capt. Jason Collins, of the steamer 'Star of the East,' thus relates, 
in a private letter, his experience in the use of fish scrap as a fertilizer: 
' My experience in the use of fish chum does not reach over many years, 
but 1 have applied it to barley and on grass. The amount used per acre for 
barley was 1,500 pounds, which was mixed with two parts loam to one of 
chum. This was spread on and harrowed in. In the ffill of 1873, I had 
five acres plowed up, on which I put 2,000 i)ounds to the acre. It was 
harrowed and rolled in the fall, and the following spring, about the 
last of March, I think, it was sown to grass-seed alone. The grass 
was cut the last of August, and it was very heavy. I have also used 
it for turnips and potatoes, and it has done well for each crop. In the 
fall of 1873 I also had chum spread on some six acres of grass land, as 
a top dressing, at the rate of three-fourths of a ton per acre, mixed with 
loam in the same proportions as that used for barley. It did first-rate. 
This fall (1874) I shall use more, which I shall compost and lay over 
until another fall, as in that form it will be better about handling. From 
all 1 can learn, and from my own experience, I am satisfied that late fall 
is the best time of the year to apply it as a top-dressing for grass lands j 
and the amount should be from three-fourths of a ton to a ton per acre. 
It is best if used as a compost, as I have stated. For hoed crops it must 
be used very carefully, and should in all cases be thoroughly composted. 
In regard to its price, it cost me $12 per ton green, in bulk, and have 
had it brought from Boothbay to Gardiner in lighters. When in barrels 
it costs $15 per ton, but it is cheap at that price, and I shall buy no 
other fertilizer until I find something better for less money. At $12 per 
ton it is cheaper than it is to haul stable-manure, even if the manure is 
given to you. Perhaps I have not used it long enough to speak of its 
effects upon the land, but during my experience with it I have witnessed 



208 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

no ill effects, although if used in too great quantities the grain will grow 
rank and lodge. I can hardly yet tell what it will do in a long run, but 
am satisfied with it after a five years' trial.'" 

Other testimony. 

276. "Numerous testimonials similar to the above could be given 
from correspondents and from agricultural reports and journals, but 
enough has been stated * * to show the great value of fish scrap 
as a fertilizer when composted or judiciously applied in connection with 
animal manure. Remark: Too much stress can hardly be i^ut upon this 
qualilication in regard to its use. An instance is mentioned in a former 
volume of this report* of a farmer who first began to use the scrap; 
comi)Osted it in the fall with three times its quantity of earth. The next 
spring the mixture had so much the api)earance of common earth, and 
the party had so little faith in its efficacy, that a shovelful to the hill 
was applied for corn. It came up well, grew for a time looking green 
and thrifty, but soon began to grow pale, finally died, and the crop was 
a failure. But the effect of this application was noticeable for many 
years afterwards, and even with no other application of manures of any 
kind the land continued to bear an immense burden of grass. In the 
discussion to which reference has been made, before the Connecticut 
Board of Agriculture, Mr. Fowler, of Guilford, gave a word of caution 
which he thought should be exercised in the api)lication offish scrap. 
He said : ' My experience has satisfied me it will not answer to use fish 
alone as a fertilizer for a term of years. It forces the crop and finally 
leaves the land in very bad condition, very hard and sterile, and it will 
usually show a pretty heavy crop of sorrel after harvest. But if it is 
used as it should be invariably, in connection with stable or barn-yard 
manure, it is perfectly safe to use every year for a term of years for any 
crop.' " 

49. Tde manufacture of Fisn manures. 

Early attempt at manufacture. 

277. The first attemi)t to manufacture a portable manure from fish is 
said to have been made by Mr. Lewis, at New Haven, Conn., in 184Q.t 
The white fish, or menhaden (Brevoortia tyrannus)^ was employed, and 
after a good deal of experimenting a manure produced which contained, 
according to analyses by Professor Norton, as high as 10.23 per cent, of 
nitrogen. The enterprise was, however, for some cause, discontinued. 

The Be Molon process. 

278. The next effort in this direction seems to have been in 1851 or 
1852, by De Molon, a Frenchman, who, in company with other parties, is 

* Hon. S. L. Goodalo, Agriculture and Geology of Maine, 1881, page 49. 

tSce communication bj' Prof. S. W. Jolinson to the Country Gentleman, July 1857, ; 
and article on Marine Manures, by S. L. Goodale, Agriculture and Geology of Maine, 
1861, pp. 50-56. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 209 

said to have put up a manufactory at Concarneau, in the department of 
Finisterre, for the manufacture of guano from the refuse of the sardine 
fishery, and one on the coast of Newfoundland, at Quirpon, near the 
eastern entrance of the Strait of Belle Isle, for the utilization in similar 
manner of the refuse from the cod fishery. According to the Chemie 
Industrielle, the establishment at Concarneau, in 1854, employed sixteen 
operatives and worked uy* daily eighteen or twenty tons of refuse into 
four or five tons of manure. The composition of this article is noted by 
Payen at ll.G per cent, of nitrogen and 10.3 per cent, of phosphoric acid, 
•with only 2.5 per cent of fat. Other analyses gave about 12 per cent, of 
nitrogen and G.7 per cent, of phosphoric acid. The Quirpon establish- 
ment was reported as able to produce 8,000 or 10,000 tons of manure 
annually. 

A manufactory offish guano by the De Molou process was reported as 
in operation at Lowestoft, in England, in 185G. The same process was 
said to be employed in 1S57-18G1, by the Oceanic Oil and Guano Com- 
pany at Southold, Long Island, N. Y. A pamphlet put out by this com- 
pany describes the process as follows : 

" The raw fish, in quantities of one and two-third tons (or abour 5,000 
fish), are placed in the inner chamber of a revolving cylinder, the 
vacuum between the inner and outer chamber being heated by steam at 
about 80 pounds pressure. Before letting in the steam the cylinder 
must be put in motion, so that each fish, as the cylinder revolves, is 
constantly changing its position. The cooking at this pressure of steam 
requires but ten minutes, during which time a uniform temperature is 
maintained by means of one head of the inner cylinder being perforated 
so as to allow the escape of the steam generated from the water con- 
tained in the fish, which prevents the dissolution of the gelatine and all 
the soluble parts, and they are therefore retained in the fish. When 
the heat in the inner cylinder has arrived at the temperature to produce 
steam from the fish, it escapes through the perforated head, and thus 
enables the fish to receive a temperature just sufficient to open the 
cellular tissues and give an easy and speedy egress to the oil. 

" After the fish are thus steamed, they are put into strong bags, pre- 
pared in size to fit the top of the press-head, in layers of eight inches of 
thickness; between each layer or bag is placed a strong iron plate. In 
this manner the press is filled, when they are subjected for about five 
minutes to a powerful hydraulic pressure. After the oil has ceased to 
run, the remains are then put through a strong picker, which reduces 
the cakes to small particles for the drying process. It is then diied by 
heated air or by platforms exposed to the sun." 

Early mamifacture in Rhode Island. 

279. Prof, Charles T. Jackson, writing in 1851, remarks : 
" In this country a company has been formed, in Rhode Island, for the 
manufacture offish manure, and the fat menhaden of Providence Eiver 
14 F 



210 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

and Long Island Sound will be used to i^roduce both oil and fish-cake, 
and the latter, being duly prepared so as to render it inodorous, will be 
sent into the agricultural market as an artificial guano. I have no 
doubt of the high fertilizing effects which this guano is capable of pro- 
ducing, nor of the economy of the manufacture proposed."* 

Manufacture in Canada. 

280. Mr. Hunt, in the Eeport of the Geological Survey of Canada, 
under date of March, 1858, says : 

"Mr. Duncan Bruce has lately been endeavoring to introduce the man- 
ufacture of fish-manure into Canada ; but he conceived the idea of com- 
bining the fish oflfal with a large amount of calcined shale, under the 
impression that the manure thus prepared will have the eifect of driv- 
ing away insects from the plants to which it is applied." * * * An- 
alyses of this manure, by Mr. Hunt, showed it to contain about 3 per 
cent, of ammonia and something more than 3 per cent, of phosphoric 
acid ; and so of less than half the manurial value of a well-made arti- 
cle from i^ure fish alone. 

Manufacture of '■'■ cancer ine''^ in New Jersey. 

281. Professor Cook, State geologist of New Jersey, in his report for 
1856, states that — 

"An establishment for making a concentrated manure from king- 
crabs or horse-feet had been erected at Goshen, in Cape May County, 
by Messrs. Ingham & Beesley. Several hundred tons of this substance 
were made last year and sold under the name of cancerine. It is a pow- 
erful fertilizer, and in its composition, as well as in its effects, has con- 
siderable resemblance to guano." The average per cent, of ammonia and 
phosphoric acid in "cancerine," as shown by three analyses by Professor 
Cook, was 9.92 per cent, of ammonia and 4.05 per cent, of phosphoric 
acid, and he estimates its value at $31 per ton ; and further says, " the 
results of trials with it have fully sustained its value as determined by 
analyses." 

Early manufacture in Maine. 

282. Mr. Goodale says further, in the report referred to : 

"Until within a few months, I was not aware that any attempt had 
been made in our State to manufacture a portable manure from fish j 
but I have recently learned of several. In Boston I found an article 
for sale under the name of * fish-guano,' which by inquiry was ascer- 
tained to have been made by a Mr. Fowler, at Lubec. I learned subse- 
quently that he had manufactured a quantity two or three years previ- 
ously, but that either from not finding a ready sale, or from other 
causes, had discontinued its manufacture. It is understood to have 

* Report of the Commissioner of Patents for the year 1854 — Agriculture. — Washing- 
ton * * * 1855, p. 107. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 211 

been made by drying the fish after pressure, when it was ground and a 
portion of gypsum mixed with it. As offered for sale, it was a grayish 
powder, in which portions of bone could be distinguished. 

"Learning that a somewhat similar article had been sold and used in 
some of the Penobscot towns, from Mr. C. G. Alden, of Camden, I 
called upon him, and found that he had made last year, for the first 
time, about a hundred barrels, at Long Island, in Blue Hill Bay, which 
he sold readily at $1.50 per barrel of about 150 pounds, and learned 
that it gave entire satisfaction. It was prepared from pogy chum by 
simply drying it in the sun, and when packed he added a peck of gyp- 
sum to each barrel. Some barrels were examined which had just been 
made (August, 1861), and the article appeared to be in a good state of 
preservation, except that it was slightly moist and gave off free ammonia. 
Mr. Alden intimated that the lack of sufiBcient capital alone prevented 
his entering into its manufacture upon a much more extended scale. 
He hoped, however, to prepare five hundred barrels or more the pres- 
ent season. 

"At Eastport I found fish guano manufactured upon a larger scale. 
Messrs. U. S. Treat & Son, well known for their enterprise, perseverance, 
and success in the artificial propagation of fish, after preliminary trials 
for some years past, prepared about one hundred and fifty tons during 
the season of 18G0, nearly the whole of which was shipped to Connect- 
icut. He makes it under a patent held or claimed by the Quiuuipiac 
Company of Connecticut. It is manufactured almost entirely from 
herrings, of which they formerly cured a large amount, but now find it 
more profitable to make it into guano. They are caught in weirs (about 
Treat's Island, on which they reside), and are thence taken to a railway 
running into the water and dipped into a car, drawn up by a windlass. 
When the car comes to be opposite one of a tier of tanks near the track, 
a gate or door in the car is opened and the fish slide in ; salt is added 
in the proportion of one bushel to each hogshead (of four barrels) of fish. 
After pickling for about twenty-four hours, they are moderately heated 
in open kettles, when they are pressed to obtain the oil, of which they 
yield about 8 per cent., and to express as much of the water as possible; 
after which the cake or chum is broken up, spread on a platform of 
boards, and dried in the sun. It is subsequently ground and packed in 
bags of two bushels each, and which contain eighty i)ounds — twenty- 
five bags or about fifty bushels to the ton of two thousand pounds. He 
sells it for $15 per ton ; and the cost of the bags, delivering or shipping, 
are extra charges. 

"The lilatform in use last year for drying is about eighty by one hun- 
dred and twenty feet square, slightly inclined to the sun, with a store- 
house on the lower side. Another was in process of erection when I 
was there, as also another railway and other conveniences for extending 
their operations. 



212 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

"The patent lield or claimed by the Qainnipiac Companj- is understood 
to be 'for drying by solar heat upon an elevated platform.' If a patent 
be granted for this, why not for drying salted fish upon an elevated flake, 
or for drying clothes on an elevated line, by solar heat ! From various 
sources, I learn that the fish guano prepared by this method gives high 
satisfaction.* 

"Prof. S. W. Johnson, of Yale College, chemist to the Connecticut 
State Agricultural Society, informs me that the article prepared by the 
Quinnipiac Company is the most popular fertilizer sold in that State. 

"To sum up in a word the results of my investigations and experi- 
ments regarding the manufacture of a j)ortable, inofl'ensive, and efiflcient 
manure from fish or fish offlil, 1 may say that 1 deem the same practica- 
ble ; that no costly machinery or complicated processes are required; 
that all which is necessary is, first, to cook the fish sufficiently to coagu- 
late the albumen contained in it ; then to express as much of the oil 
and water as may be, and to dry the remainder as quickly and thoroughly 
as possible. A pickling of the fish first with salt would probably facili- 
tate the operation. 

" It is confidently hoped that the waste of such enormous quantities 
of fertilizing material as have hitherto been thrown will not much longer 
go on, but that they may be converted to use, feed our hungry fields, 
and till our barns with plenty." 

Early manvfacture in France. 

283. Turning again to the manufacture of fish manures in Europe, we 
note that the process of De Molon, referred to above, is described by 
Deherain ( Wiirz Diet., cb. 1, 1230) as follows : " The fish are first boiled, 
then pressed to force out the water and oil ; the residue is then dried 
and ground in a mill." De Melon's first factory was at Concarueau, 
Department of Finisterre. He seems to have established others on 
the English coast and in Newfoundland, in company with Thurneyssen. 
From disconnected statements in different works to wbich I have had 
access, the industry on the French coast seems to have suffered from 
lack of material. A company, "Credit Mobilier," into whose hands 
the enterprise fell, attempted to use city refuse with it, but through 
business complications, stock speculations, etc., the whole undertaking- 
failed. 

About the same time that De Molon introduced his method of manu- 
facture in France, Pettit and Green patented another process in England 
(1852), the peculiar feature of which was " the use of sulphuric acid, 
which was added to change its consistence." After treatment with the 
acid, the fish was dried in hot air. 

•According to Mr. Boardman, Mr. C. G. Allen, of Camden, Me., was engaged in 18G2 
in making lish guano from "pogy chum," by drying it in the sun. (Rept. U. S. Dept. 
Ag., 18G2, p. 57.) 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 213 

Early mamtfacture in England. • 

284. From an article in the " Farmers' Magazine" (London) for August, 
1859, by Samuel Osier, of Great Yarmouth, who claims to have discov- 
ered a method preferable to that of De Molon or Pettit, a few para- 
graphs are quoted by Mr. Goodale : 

" The enormous consumption of guano, its high price, and extensive 
adulteration, have led to a desire of an auxiliary or substitute. The 
most obvious source is the fishery. * * * What we require is a 
simple, cheap, and effectual mode of separating the parts which are 
needless for manure — the water, gelatine, and oil, the two latter suffi- 
ciently pure to be commercially valuable, and leaving the fiber, bones, 
and scales in a state fit for keeping and for use. It has been ascer- 
tained by experiment, and confirmed by actual working, that the refuse 
and waste fish may be thus converted, and the gelatine and oil collected 
by a process which I have discovered. The machinery and the process 
are simple, inexpensive, and effectual. The principle of the manufacture 
is founded upon the fact that when fish or flesh is subjected to a long- 
continued and moderate heat the fluids separate, dissolve the gelatine, 
and leave the fibrous and bony solids. This is easily shown by putting 
meat or fish into a flask and setting it in boiling water, corking the 
flask when fully heated. The fluids will gradually separate, while the 
flesh will, after a time, be lett a dry and insipid residuum." 

Mr. Osier gives the results of several analyses by Professors Way 
and Voelcker and Dr. Stoeckhardt, by an average of which it appears to 
contain about 12 per cent, ammonia and 7 per cent, of j)hosphates. 

Other European manufacture. 

285. In the Paris International Exhibition of 1855, among the speci- 
mens of artificial manure was one, ^^ engrais poisson,''^ prepared from fish, 
which, " after being steamed, were pressed into cakes and dried." It 
was " said to contain from 10 to 12 i^er cent, of nitrogen, and from 16 to 
22 per cent, of phosi)hate (= 7^ to 10 per cent, phosphoric acid). The 
price was about $35 per ton. 

On the coast of the North Sea, at Varel, in Oldenburg, immense num- 
bers of a kind of small crab [Crangon vulgaris), called in German Gran- 
ateuj or Grandlen, are taken, dried, ground without any steaming, and 
thus made into what is called " Granat guano." 

On the coast of the Baltic Sea, at Labagiehnen, near Labiau, in East 
Prussia, considerable fish refuse has been manufactured into a fertilizer. 

The following are analyses of the articles just named : 

Nitrogen, Phosphoric 
percent, acid, per ct. 

Fish guano, Pettit 9.1 7.6 

Fish giiauo, Green,No. I 9.1 1.6 

Fish guano, Green, No. II 13.8 0.2 

Fish guano, Do Molon and Thurneyssea 11.6 10.1 

Granat guano 11.2 2.2 



214 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

These figures are takeu from a report by Professor Schmidt, of Dor- 
pat, on the "Artificial fertilizers at the second Baltic agricultural 
exhibition, June, 1871," who adds that none of the articles seem to have 
attained enough importance to secure a i^lace in the wholesale market. 

The Norwegian fish guano. 

286. By far the most important of European fish-waste products, in 
fact the only one that has been made in large enough quantities to bring 
it into very general and widespread use, is the ISTorwegian fish guano, 
manufactured from the waste of the fisheries on the Lofoden Islands, 
and elsewhere on the Norwegian coast. 

In the Polar Sea, near the 70th parallel, north latitude, oil' the 
extremely wild, rough, and dangerous coast of Northern Norway, near 
the famous and dreaded maelstrom, lies a group of islands, rough, rocky, 
and precipitous, the peaks of some shrouded in eternal snow, about 40 
in number, and bearing the name Lofoden. The neighboring mainland 
is inhabited by nomadic tribes of Laplanders. The islands have neither 
four-footed beasts nor food for them to live upon ; but the sea about 
them teems with fish, and the air with sea-fowl. But few human beings 
are there, except during the fishing season, from February until April, 
when from 12,000 to 14,000 fishermen come, with 3,000 to 4,000 boats ; 
bring scanty supplies of coarse bread, dried fish, and bacon; live in mis- 
erable huts, sleej) in sheep-skins; and with lines that have sometimes as 
many as 3,000 hooks apiece, catch from 18,000,000 to 20,000,000 codfish 
per annum. These fish are cut up; the sides are dried and sold as " stock- 
fish" all over the world. A part of the residue is used in the northern 
regions as cattle food. The heads and backs were formerly thrown into 
the sea or left to rot upon the rocks. Of late years, however, they are 
gathered, dried upon the rocks by the sun's heat, ground in factories 
that are scattered about in sheltered bays, and thus made into the Nor- 
wegian fish guano. A business circular concerning the Lofoden fishery 
products says that the cods' heads and backbones are collected mostly 
by women, children, and infirm persons, who cannot take part in the 
fishing, dried either on the bare rocks or on poles, and then ground, put 
in bags of about 2^ cwt., and shipped ; the material delivered at Ham- 
burg at the rate of about £9 i^er (long) ton. The circular adds that 
'" it has been a great benefit to the Lofoden fisheries to get rid of this 
waste which formerly spoiled the bottoms of the fish banks, and infected 
the habors, where in some places it used to lie knee-deep upon the 
beach." Another account states that the gathering of the refuse has 
already become an important industry for the poor people there. 

The earliest notice I have seen of the Norwegian fish guano is by 
Stoeckhardt* in 1855, who then reported the manufacture as started on 

* Dvr Chcmische Acker umann, 1, 1855, s. 23fi. See articles by Stoeckhardt and by Meinert 
in same journal, I, 1856, s. 118; V, 1859, 44; VI, 1860, 59; JX, 1863, 117; XV, 1869, 43; 
XVI, 1870,43 and 53; XVI, 1871,245 ; and Landw, Centralblaif, 1874, 613 ; and by Vobl. 
Dlugler's Polyt. Jour., CCXV, 1875, 460. 



HISTOEY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 215 

the Lofoden Island by Dr. Scbeibler and Herr Frohlich. In 1856, 
Stoeckhardt informs us that a joint stock-comiDany had been formed at 
Christiana for the manufacture of the guano, and had taken the patent 
from Dr. K. Hansen and F. C. Schiibler. (The Dr. Schiebler above ?) 
The company consisted of these two gentlemen and three others, Messrs. 
Frohlich, Broch, and Heftye. In 1859, he reports the manufacture as 
having finally begun in the past season (1858) on a large scale. In ISGO, 
the guano was offered for sale in Germany, by Mr. Meinert, of Leipsic. 
In 18G3, Mr. Meinert states that, "unfortunately," the fish guano has 
become so popular in Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, that a largo part 
of the supply has been retained there, and not enough will reach Germany 
to sup[)ly the demand. In 18G9, Meinert reports to the "Ackersmann" 
that the manufVicture has attained such a degree of perfection that an 
article can be offered of uniform composition, and containing 8 to 10 per 
cent, of nitrogen and 10 to 15 per cent, of phosphoric acid. 

In 1870, it was stated that the refuse of 4 to 5 million codfish was 
worked up into guano, while that of the remaining 14 to 15 million was 
still allowed to go to waste. 

In 1871, Meinert, whose accounts of his journeys to Lofoden, published 
in the "Ohemische Ackersmann," are well worth the reading, reports the 
success of attempts, undertaken by himself, to make guano from whole 
fish, from kinds whose inferior value for human food had caused them to 
be sold at very low prices or to be used in Norway for cattle food. From 
these "waste fish" 200 tons of guano had been prepared, of so good 
quality that a content of 11 to 12 per cent, nitrogen and 5 to G per cent, 
phosphoric acid. The high proportion of nitrogen is due to the use of 
the whole fish. It finds rapid sales at higher prices than the ordinary 
guano. 

In 1874, the "Landwirthschaftliches Centralblatt" (XXII, G13) speaks 
of the Norwegian guano as follows : 

"The Norwegian guano, as is well known, is made of the heads 
and backs of the cod.* These fish are taken from January to May, 
all along the coast from Finmark to Ilammerfest, lat. G8-71 N., but 
especially on the Lofoden Islands. During the season 2,000 fishermen 
are engaged. The catch of cod has averaged during the past ten years, 
according to statistical reports, from 18,000,000 to 22,000,000. The 
sides of the fish are dried either on lines upheld by posts or upon the 
rocks. Those prepared in the former way are sold in Spain, Italy, &c., 
under the name stock -fish ; the others are sent to Eussia and Sweden, 
under the name of Klippfiscli.i The refuse was formerly thrown into 
the sea or left to the sea fowls, except the small quantity used as fodder 

*The Dorach, Gadus callarias, common Cod, and Kdbeljau, Gadus molva rcl morrhua, 
Ling, are both said to be taken at Lofoden. Sometimes oue and sometimes tlie other is 
named as the j)rincipal fish of those fisheries. [They are the same. G. B. G.] 

\ Stock, rod, stick; KUppe, rock; so cod. Auglo Sason gad or goad, a rod, and the 
Latin gandus has a corresponding Sanscrit root, cad or gad, a rod. See pajier by J. C. 
Brevoort, on the names of codfish. 



216 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

for cattle and sheep. The heads (some as large as small calves' heads) 
aud the backs of the cod {Borsch) form the chief raw material for the 
fish guauo. They are dried in the air on the rocks, then torn up by ma- 
chines, aud finally ground to a product resembling coarse bone meal. 
Since, however, not inconsiderable quantites of cod are also caught 
along the Norwegian coast southward from Lofoden, as far as Aalesund, 
the preparation of fish guano has offered the inhabitants a new and use- 
ful industry ; the demand has increased every year and since the sup- 
ply has not sufiBced even for the German market, a considerable number 
of larger or smaller factories have sprung up all along the west coast of 
Norway. Competition soon led to the manufacture of a more finely 
ground product, and to the utilization of a large portion of the available 
material for preparation of fish guano. Nevertheless, a good deal of 
the material was still allowed to go to waste, so that the production of 
the guano is capable of further development. Eecognizing this fact, 
Dr. A. Meiuert, son and business partner of the original German im- 
porter, has, in connection with some German merchants, established two 
new fiictories in Norway, one in Lofoden, the other in Hammerfest. 
The former was completed during the past summer (1874). The guano 
from these establishments is first steamed, then dried and ground to a 
fine dust, and is consequently very similar in its action to Peruvian 
guano." 

The report adds that, on account of the difficulty of transporting fish 
guano to Sweden, factories have been put up in that country also, to 
supply the home demand. 

The most remarkable enterprise in this direction is one for the manu- 
facture of guano from whale refuse, on the boundary between Norway 
and Russia, beyond the North Cape, in the latitude of 70°. It was 
undertaken in 1870-1873, by Capt. Svend Foyn, who is described as 
"the greatest whale fisherman of our time." With his fleet of steam 
and sailing vessels he visits the coast of Greenland in February to 
catch seal, and thence sails in March to- the North Polar sea in pursuit 
of whales. He captured, in 18G9, thirty-two whales and expected to be 
able, by use of improved vessels and appliances, to take fifty per 
annum. A whale, according to Captain Foyn, weighs on an average 
230,000 pounds (115 tons) 5 each fish furnishes about 80,000 pounds of 
fat, several hundred pounds of whalebone, and 100,000 pounds raw 
stock for fish guano. Fifty whales are expected to produce 2,500 tons of 
the latter, containing 8 per cent, of nitrogen and 12 per cent, of phos- 
phoric acid. The enterprise seems to have halted somewhat from the 
great difficulties to be overcome, but at last accounts still promised 
success. 

The distance from markets and industrial centers, the wildness of 
the coast, the inclemencies of the weather, and the length of the arctic 
winter night, have all combined to make the successful manufacture of 



HISTORY 'OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 217 

the Norwegian i)roducts a very difficult matter. The bulk of the pro- 
ducts have, I understand, been sold in Germany by Mr. Meinert, who has 
from the first bad control of the trade in that country. Mr. Mt-inert 
has managed the business in such a straightforward and rational man- 
ner as to secure not onlj- a large personal profit but also the confidence 
of the agricultural public. This he has done by personally aiding and 
encouraging the manufacture of an article of high grade and uniform 
quality, by selling it on the basis of guaranteed analysis, and thus rec- 
ommending to the good sense of the most enlightened farmers. 

According to Deharaiu {Wiirs Diet. Ch. I, 123G), a Frenchman, M. 
Eohart, has established a manufactory of fi^^h guano at Lofoden. This is 
probably the one referred to by Herr Meinert as "an incomplete imita- 
tion" of the previous manufactories there, and in aid of which the French 
Government gave a subvention of 100,000 francs. That so large a gift 
should be made to aid this enterprise is proof of the importance ascribed 
to it by the French Government. 

According .to the "Revue Scientifique," August 25, 1875, M Levy has 
lately started an establishment at the French island of St. Pierre, in the 
Gulf of St. Lawrence, for the purpose of utilizing the gurry and offal of 
the codfish, &c., taken on the banks of Newfoundland. All the heads, 
entrails, &:c., are gathered in, and after the extraction of the oil the 
residue is made into gelatine and fertilizers. 

How important such an industry may be made appears from the fact 
that the waste material of the fisheries of that region is estimated at 
120,000,000 pounds per annum. 

Manvfacture of glue and removal of oil in ijreparation of Noricegian fish 

guano. 

287. It is worthy of note, that in the European factories the liquid 
coming from the steamed or boiled fish, and containing considerable 
nitrogenous matter in solution, is utilized for the manufacture of a 
low quality of glue, while in this country the practice is to throw it 
away. 

The Norwegian guanos have generally smaller percentages of fat 
than occur in the menhaden guanos in this country. But even this 
small amount is objected to by many, on the ground that it retards the 
fertilizing action. According to Vohl, this objection has been removed 
by Eadde, of Hamburg, by the manufacture of so-called fatless, evapo- 
rated, polar fish guano, in which a minimum of 8 per cent, of non-vol- 
atile nitrogen and of 12 per cent, of phosphoric acid is guaranteed, and 
actual analysis of a sample gave a considerable excess above this mini- 
mum. This article is in the form of a fine dry powder, of a yellowish 
color, with a comparatively feeble odor. It absorbs water rapidly, and 
when moist putrefies readily at 52°, with copious formation of ammonia. 
It yields on ignition 37 to 38 i)er cent, of ash. 



218 KEPOKT OF COMMISSIONEK OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 
Success of fish guano as a fertilizer in Europe. 

288. A few words upon the use of fisli guano in Europe may be in 
place here. 

In 1855 Professor Stoeckbardt, of Tbarand, wrote* of fish-refuse as 
a mauure : 

" Fish forms the basis of all natural guanos, since it forms the sole 
food of the sea-birds (and seals, «&c.), from whose excrement guano is 
formed. * * * What is accomplished naturally here by the diges- 
tive processes of the bird, pulverization, fine division and concentra- 
tion, must be done artificially by the ingenuity of the chemist. If the 
chemical and mechanical operations necessary for working over the 
crude material rapidly, on a large scale, into a product of good quality 
and at low price, can be devised, then it is for the interest of agricul- 
ture to be put as quickly as possible in i^ossession of this product, 
whose office it may be to break the monopoly held by guano." 

After describing at length the manufacture, composition, and fer- 
tilizing effects of materials prepared from fish, he warmly recom- 
mends them to the farmers of Germany as the " guano of the future." 

At this time the fish guano was just coming into the European mar- 
ket ; but little was known from experience or experiment as to its actual 
value for farming. In 18G9, after it had stood the tests of repeated 
chemical analyses, gone through the trial of mauifold field experiments, 
and run the gauntlet of practical farmers' experience, with ever-increas- 
ing popularity and favor, Stoeckbardt wrote again : 

" Fish guano has entirely fulfilled the prophecy which I made for it 
fourteen years ago, at its first entrance into the commercial world, 
* * * and it is to be desired in the interest of agriculture that its 
manufacture may assume ever-increasing dimensions." * * * 

The manufacture of fish fertilizers in the United States. 

289. We may now return to the manufacture of fish fertilizers in the 
United States. 

At present nearly all the material in our market is made from the men- 
haden, which after the extraction of the oil leaves a residue which is 
prepared iu various forms for fertilizers. 

The attempt of Mr. Lewis in East Ilaveu, Conn., in 1848, to make a 
concentrated fertilizer from menhaden has been referred to. The first 
practical success in this direction was attained by Mr. W. D. Hall in 
1853. "He discovered how the oil might be extracted from the fresh 
fish in a few hours' treatment, leaving the 'i)omace' or 'scrap' iu such 
a condition of half dryness that it could be stored or barreled and trans- 
ported at once, or could be further dried by exposure to the sun and 
converted by grinding into 'fish guano.'" The history of the manu- 
facture of oil from menhaden since that time is given very fully in Mr. 
Goode's report on the menhaden. 

* Der Chemische Ackersmann, 1855, 1. 23G. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 219 

Fish refuse mid Jcinds of fertilizers made therefrom. 

290. It is of interest for us to consider here the "scrap" or pomace 
left from the manufacture of the oil, and its uses. 

The fish-refnse enters our markets in several different conditions. 
The following have come under my observation : 

1. '■'Crude stock,''^ " green scrap,^^ *' chum,''^ or crude pomace. 

2. '"•Half dry scrap" or half dry pomace. 

3. ^^ Dry scrap ^^ or dried fish, 

4. "!)/•?/ ground fish- scrap,'''' dry ground fish or '■^ fish guano.''^ 

5. Fish guano from ichich the most of the fat has been extracted by spe- 
cial processes. 

6. Acidulated fish. 

7. '■'•Fish and j)otash salts.'''' 

8. Fish mixed tvith superphosphates in the form of ^'ammoniated^^ super- 
phosphates, sometimes called guanos. 

!No. 1 is the raw material as it comes from the press. 

No. 2 is the form it assumes after partial drying. More or less fer- 
mentation is apt to take place during the drying. This is often accom- 
panied by considerable loss of nitrogen in the form of ammonia. Large 
quantities of this " half dry scrap," " half dry pomace," or " fish 
pomace," as it is variously called, are used by farmers along the coast 
where menhaden are taken. 

No. 3 is the coarse scrap dried by the sun's heat or artificially. This 
also is used in large quantities by farmers near the coast. 

No. 4 is prepared by grinding the dried scrap. It makes a reasonably 
fine, dry, quick acting, and excellent fertilizer. : 

The green scrap or crude guano generally contains 55 to CO per cent, 
of water. The half-dry scrap contains 40 to 50 per cent, of water. The 
dry guano contains 10 to 20 per cent, of water. 

The following measurements and estimates are said to be in use among 
menhaden manufacturers : 

1 ton (2,000 pounds) is reckoned the weight of 3,000 fish. 

2^ tons of fish yield 1 ton (40 per cent.) of green scrap, chum, or crude 
pomace. 

3 tons of fish yield 1 ton (33 per cent.) of half dry scrap. 

5 tons offish yield 1 ton (20 per cent.) of dry scrap or guano. 

One thousand menhaden, weighed by Mr. Dudley, president of the 
Quinnipiac Fertilizer Company, at Pine Island, June 12, 1877, weighed 
685 pounds. Mr. Dudley has kindly furnished the following statements: 

" We take them from the fishermen at so much per thousand, reck- 
oning 22 cubic inches per fish. One thousand fish, measuring 22,000 
cubic inches, weighs CC7 pounds (3,000 to the ton). 

"0,000 to 7,000 fish make 1 ton of 'green scrap' from the press. 
The last I weighed took 0,700 for a ton. Green scrap contains 55 to 
65 per cent, of moisture. 



220 RRPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

" 10,000 fish, on the average, yield 1 ton of half dry scrap, containing 
40 to 50 per cent, of water. 

"15,000 fish, on the average, make 1 ton of snn dried scrap, contain- 
ing 10 to 20 per cent, of moisture." 

''In regard to prices for the past ten years, we have sold fish scrap or 
hall dry fish, as it is called in Connecticut Valley, in car-load lots in 
bags, free on board cars at New London or i!sew Haven, as follows: 

" 1809, $'_>0 to $24 per ton ; 1870, $23 to $25 per ton; 1871, $20 to $25 
per ton ; 1872, $1G to $19 per ton ; 1873, $18 to $20 per ton ; 1874, $19 
to $23 per ton ; 1875, $15 to $17.50 per ton ; 1870, $17 to $20 per ton ; 
1877, $14 to $17 per ton ; 1878, $17 to $18 per ton. 

"Prices in bulk at factory are usually about $3 per ton lower than at 
New Haven, owing to cost of packages, labor, and freights. Dry 
ground fish guano was retailed ten years ago at $55 per ton, now at 
$40 to $42.50 ; wholesale, $5 per ton less." 

Methods of manufacture and need of improvement, — Statements by Prof. G. 

A. Goessman. 

291. The following statements from the Third Annual Report of the 
Massachusetts State Inspector of Fertilizers, Prof. Goessman, who 
has given a great deal of attention to the subject of fish manures, are of 
special value in this connection. Professor Goessman gives an analysis 
of a sample of dried fish scrap obtained at the chemical works under the 
charge of Hon. S. L. Goodale, at Booth Bay, Me., where large quanti- 
ties of fresh scrajjs were delivered direct from the press of an adjoining 
fish-rendering establishment. It was deemed a particularly fair sample 
of a well-rendered and carefully-dried menhaden fish. It contained 10 
per cent, of water, 70.75 per cent, organic matter, 18.25 per cent, ash, 
8.46 per cent, phosphoric acid, and 8.14 per cent, nitrogen. 

"About one third of the entire phosphoric acid proved to be soluble in 
citrate of ammonia. Ether abstracted at ordinary temperature 18 per 
cent, more of a thick, highly-colored, oily mass. 

"The following rules of rendering the fish were stated as being cus- 
tomary in the establishment above mentioned : the fish were boiled for 
about one-half to three-quarters of an hor.r, by means of steam of from 
70 to 80 pounds' pressure, in large wooden tanks with false bottoms ; and 
subsequently, after the soup had been withdrawn, subjected to a press- 
ure of about 115 to 120 pounds per square inch. The fish mass, in con- 
sequence of its gelatinous condition, retains usually still from 50 to 55 
per cent, of moisture. In a large fish-rendering estabishment near New 
York City, I noticed that the boiling of the fish was continued only 25 
minutes, with steam of 50 pounds' pressure, and the rendered fish mass 
subsequently treated with IGO pounds' pressure per square inch. 

"The soup, which contains besides the oil more or less of the glue- 
producing, soluble nitrogenous matter of the flesh and the bones, is at pres- 
ent dischargetl after, by means of settling-tanks, the oil has been care- 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 221 

fully removed. This practice causes a considerable waste of nitrogen. 
The yield of oil differs, often widely, even during the same season, being, 
it was stated, usually highest during autumn. The rendering begins 
usually in May or June, and closes late in the fall. The quality of the 
fish refuse in general, independent of its moisture and mechanical con- 
dition, depends, quite naturally, to a large extent, on the following cir- 
cumstances : 

"First. On the kind used and whether entire or in part. 

"Second. On the peculiar mode of rendering. 

"Third. On the time when the fish are caught. 

"Fourth. The course pursued in keeping and preparing the refuse for 
the general market. 

"Each of these circumstances exerts an influence of its own on the 
composition of the fish guano. 

"Judging from general appearances, but little attention is paid thus 
far to the first three conditions ; the influence of the last one is, more or. 
less, fully understood, yet not satisfactorily controlled. A main diffi- 
culty, no doubt, arises from the irregular arrival of large quantities offish 
at one time during the season ; and the means, which are at present 
usually employed to meet this difficulty, are, quite frequently, inadequate 
to the demand. Many manufacturers of fish-oil consider it, therefore, 
apparently a safer proceeding to dispose at once of their crude stock at 
low rates than to run the risk any longer. Without questioning the 
soundness of their course of action, in case of limited pecuniary means, 
there seems to be no valid reason why improvements should cease here 
as long as it is daily demonstrated that it pays well to collect animal re- 
fuse matters from all over the country and to work them into valuable 
concentrated fertilizers. 

" Nobody familiar with the nature of a good fish guano considers it less 
efficient for agricultural purposes than any other animal refuse matter 
of a corresponding percentage of phosphoric acid and nitrogen. In fact, 
all true guanos, the Peruvian not excepted, owe their most valuable 
constituents, in a controlling degree, directly or indirectly to the fish. 

"Our fish guano consists of the entire body of the menhaden fish, 
which has been deprived i)urposely of its main portion of fat, and, inci- 
dentally, more or less completely of its soluble nitrogenous matter. The 
more the flesh predominates, the more the fat has been abstracted with- 
out the application of an excessive heat, as far as time and degree are 
concerned, the higher will be the commercial value of the residue of the 
press in case of an equal percentage of moisture. The flesh of the fish, 
like that of our domesticated animals, contains on an average 15 per 
cent, of nitrogen. The same close approximate relation exists between 
the bones and the textures of these otherwise widely difi'ering classes of 
animals; for the fish-bones and the scales consist, mainly, of a varying 
quantity of cartilaginous (nitrogenous) matter and of (tricalcic phos- 
phate) bone phosphate. 



222 EFFORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

"To produce a fish guano which contains in a given quantity the largest 
possible amount of nitrogen, must be the principal aim of the manufac- 
turer. It brings the highest pecuniary compensation ; for one percent- 
age of nitrogen is commercially equal to 4 per cent, of phosphoric acid. 

" During the past, it is true, there has been little inducement for con- 
siderations of this kind on the part of the manufacturer, because prac- 
tically there has been scarcely any serious discrimination on the x)art 
of the consumers regarding the exact relative chemical composition of 
the various fish guanos offered for sale. 

" The future i)rospect of this branch of home industry depends, in an 
unusual degree, on the exertions which hereafter shall be made, on the 
part of the manufacturers, to meet the present more exacting conditions 
of the trade in fertilizers. 

"To derive any full benefit from the capital invested renders it ad- 
visable, for all parties pecuniarily interested in the fish guano man- 
ufacture, to favor a closer scientific investigation into the changes 
which the menhaden fish undergoes during the customary mode of ren- 
dering, 

" Loss of nitrogenous matter, in consequence of misapplication of heat, 
seems to be not always compensated for by an increase of the yield in 
oil. 

"The latter, when left in the fish mass in an undue proportion, reduces? 
to say the least, the commercial value of the guano by adding a worth- 
less matter, which may affect seriously the analytical results, as far as 
its percentage of nitrogen is concerned. To heat the fish to a higher 
temperature, or for a longer period of time than is required to secure 
the largest possible amount of oil, reduces, invariably, the commercial 
value of the fish mass for agricultural purposes. A few subsequent an- 
alytical statements, regarding the composition of fish, and the degree 
of the changes which they may suffer by steaming and rendering, may 
serve as a practical illustration of my previous remarks. 

"A well-dried and finely-ground fish guano is one of our best substi- 
tutes for Peruvian guano, and ranks equally high Avith the best quality 
of animal dust from our butcher refuse establishments. It deserves the 
liberal patronage of farmers wherever a rich nitrogenous phosphate is 
called for. 

"I have shown in a iirevious report, that, as a general rule, the high 
grades of superphosphates are cheaper than our low grades ; the same 
rule applies to nitrogenous materials. 

" The recent changes in our fertilizer trade tend to stimulate improve- 
ments in the modes of their manufacture, by rendering true merits 
prominent, which, as a natural consequence, secures a reliable patronage 
only to the best quality. We are not yet suflering from an overstock- 
ing of our fertilizer markets on account of overproduction of home-made 
fertilizers obt.ained from suitable home resources. 

"Millions of dollars are annually sent abroad still, for the importa- 



HISTORY OF THE AMERIHAN MENHADEN. 223 

tion of materials, which, in their crude form, are by no means better 
than what we have in abundance at home. 

"The manufacture of fertilizers has become in the same degree an 
art, as agriculture itself has justly assumed the claim of beiug a sci- 
ence. 

"The production of fish guano, although respectable already, as far 
as quantity is concerned, is thus far but incidental to the menhaden 
fish-rendering industry. 

" It remains still an open question whether our resources for the man- 
ufacture of fish guano do not extend beyond that branch of industry." 

statements of Mr. Maddocks. — Manvfacture in Maine. 

292. From the fifth report of the secretary of the association of the 
menhaden oil and guano manufacturers of Maiue, Mr. L. Maddocks, 
which is devoted to "The Menhaden Fishery of Maine," the following 
quotations are taken. The manufacturing processes are those preva- 
lent on the Maine coast, particularly ia the region of Booth Bay : 

" The fish [as brought in by the fishing vessels] are discharged into a 
car running upon a rail-track to the second story of the factory, and 
thence poured into tanks below, holding sixty to seventy-five barrels. 
These are filled one- third with water, steam turned on, and the fish 
cooked an hour, or until the albumen is coagulated, and the oil-cells 
broken. The cooked mass, after draining, passes into j)resses worked 
by hydraulic power, and is subjected to the pressure of a hundred tons 
per square inch, the oil and water flowing out and being collected in 
vats. The oil is then drawn off, clarified by settling, barreled, and is 
ready for market. The residue, called chum or scrap, is usually stored 
in the lower story of the factory until taken away by the purchasers, 
chiefly the manufacturers of ammoniated superphosphate of lime. 

" The following figures will give more defiuiteness to the statement : 

"One hundred and ninety-five pounds of fish make a 'barrel.' 

" One barrel yields about two and a half gallons of oil, or eighteen and 
three-quarter pounds." 

" One barrel yields about eighty pounds of fresh chum or scrap. 

"These are average results of the manufacture as now conducted in 
this State. The amount of oil realized varies from one gallon per barrel 
of fish, early in the season, to four or five gallons in September." 

" The scrap contains, on the average as it comes from the press, 55 to 
60 per cent, of its weight in water, and sometimes more. This is of course 
worthless for fertilizing purposes. It also contains from 12 to 20 per 
per cent, of fat or oil, which is equally worthless for manure. 

"As now generally managed, the scrap remains in large heaps until 
shipped, in autumn or winter, to the points of manufacture into super- 
phosphate. In this time a portion of the oil and water leaks away, so 
as to leave about 10 or 15 per cent, of the former, and 48 to 53 per cent, 
of the latter. The elimination of the water is an advantage, but the 



224 EEPOST OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

specified per cent, of oil is lost, and a portion of nitrogen is also lost, re- 
sulting from the partial decomposition of the mass, the formation and 
escape of ammonia. It were better, if practicable, to drive off the water 
at once upon withdrawal from the press, so as to prevent the loss in 

question." 

Goodale's new process. 

293. I have spoken of fisli guanos from which the most of the fat has 
been extracted by special processes (Class No. 5, of page 000).. One of 
these is Mr. Goodale's, of which Mr. Maddocks speaks as follows: 

"What has hitherto prevented the driviug oft' of the water imme- 
diately by artificial heat has been the presence of so much oil, together 
with the gelatinous or gluey matter which is developed during the cook- 
ing, chiefly from the skins and bones. These render the process of dry- 
ing the scrap a very difficult and tedious one, so much so that compara- 
tively little has been put into the market in that desirable form. The 
recent discovery of an easy and simple process for removing the larger 
part of the oil, and also at the same time the gelatinous hinderauce to 
drying, gives promise of a speedy change in this respect. While pursu- 
ing investigations relative to utilizing the menhaden as a source of con- 
centrated food, before referred to, Mr. S. L. Goodale, formerly secretary 
of the board of agriculture, discovered that it was chiefly by the agency 
of the gelatine that the remaining oil was held in the scrap. He found 
by thoroughly washing new scrap with sufficient hot water, and agita- 
tion, that it lost its jellyish consistence and slimy feel, and that the oil 
globules were liberated from their lock-up in the tissues, so that the 
greater part could be easily recovered by draining and repressing, and 
also that after such washing it could be pressed much drier than before. 

" We can now readily understand why it is that oil, together with 
a putrid, watery liquid, leaks away from new scrap not many days after 
it is removed from the press. It is simply because dissolved gelatine, 
being more readily putrescible than other animal substances, quickly 
decomposes, and changes to a thin, offensive liquid, which partly drains 
oft". This decomposition, or the change of consistence attending it, so ' lets 
the bars down,' that more or less oil escapes, while subjected to no press- 
ure whatever, except its own weight. 

" Thus by a very easy process, the oil product may be largely increased, 
the scrap left free from the gluey hinderauce to drying, and with less 
water to be dried out. 

" It may appear strange that so simple a method should not have been 
discovered sooner, but such is the fact. Work had been done on both 
sides of it. Re-pressing had been tried, using extra strong curbs, with 
very powei fill pressure, but it failed to give satisfactory results. Ke- 
cooking had been resorted to, which resulted in injury to the oil and in 
the development of an additional amount of the gelatinous matter. It 
is now seen that a simple thorough washing in hot water accomplishes 
the desired end, with neither of these objectionable results. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 225 

" Scrap made by this process last August (1S77), and dried in the 
open air, was lately analyzed at the agricultural experiment station of 
Connecticut, and the statement of the director, Prof. S. W. Johnson, of 
New Haven, shows the proportion of moisture to be reduced to 11.45 per 
cent., cr about one-fifth that contained in the scrap fresh from the [>ress; 
and the proportion of oil to 4.G5 per ceut., tlius proving that the content 
of oil in the icasJied scrap as it came from the press (before dryiug it) had 
been reduced to less than 2} per ceut. [The percentage of nitrogen was 
10.24 per cent., the phosphoric acid 7.50 per cent. These figures refer 
to the material as dried in the open air.J 

''According to these figures, the proportion of oil hitherto lost is, by 
the new process, reduced from an average of, say 15 i)er cent, of the 
weight of the scrap as it commonly issues from the press, to about 2 
per cent. The balance, say 12 or 13 per cent., is saved. Let it be as- 
sumed, however, that only 10 per cent, can be realized in practice, and 
that the annual out-turn of scrap from the factories of the J^Iaine 
association be only 40,000,000 pounds. This would give an annual 
saving of 4,000,000 pounds of oil, or 533,000 gallons, worth, at current 
prices at market for 1877, forty cents per gallon, $213,200. 

'• With reference to drying by artificial means, which is obviously 
important, no doubt is felt that the apparatus now in operation will 
effect the work as thoroughly as may be desired, and cheaply and 
quickly also, provided only the oil and gelatine in the scrap be reduced 
as above described. 

'' Two companies belonging to the association have succeeded in dry- 
ing the scrap in considerable quantities, notwithstanding the obstacles 
referred to. The scrap is passed through a slightly inclined heated iron 
cylinder thirty feet long and four leet in diameter, and on the pas- 
sage is agitated by paddles attached to a revolving shaft, and comes 
out at the lower end dried to about 25 per cent, of moisture. The process 
will be greatly i)romoted in dispatch and efficiency by the application 
of the new oil-saving method, and the whole manufacture will then be 
under full control. The scrap can at once, upon withdrawal from the 
press, be subjected to the drying process by furnace heat, irrespective 
of the state of the weather, and thus the loss of ammonia by decomposi- 
tion be forestalled. If the contained moisture is reduced to a per cent, 
no lower even than 20 or 25, the scrap can be kept on the spot at con- 
venience, and without offense to the senses, or transported as required." 

Adamsoii's process. 

294. The other process for extracting fat from fish is that of Adamson. 
It depends upon the use of hot petroleum, naphtha, or benzine, to dis- 
solve the oil. Whole fish, menhaden, or others, as well as scrap, are 
said to be arranged in layers, in an inclined iron cylinder, the naphtha 
or benzine directed upon and passed through them. In the passage the 
oil is extracted from the fish, which are left in an excellent form for dry- 
15 F 



226 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

ing and grinding. The process is said to be easy, simple, and efi'ectual. 
The main drawback is the necessity for new apparatus and the rejection 
of a good share of the appliances now used. 

Two samples offish guano prepared in this way and analyzed at the 
Connecticut experiment station gave, respectively : 

Per cent. Per cent. 

Moisture 4.91 3.67 

Oil 2.07 

Nitrogen 10.78 10.74 

Immense umste offish at present. — Possibilities of future mamifacture. 

295. The accounts of these new processes at my disposal are meager. 
They seem, however, to jn'omise well, and, if successful, must revolu- 
tionize the manufacture of fish guano. The great desideratum has been 
a means of removing the oil as entirely as possible, saving the nitro- 
genous matters and yielding a fine, dry product. This seems to have 
been found. I understand that the Adamsou process is to be used in 
the manufacture of a fertilizer from the fish that are taken along the 
cpast, but thrown into the sea again on account of their low value for 
oil or food. The benefit to our agriculture from such an economizing of 
fish hitberto wasted would be immense. Concerning the number offish 
thus lost Mr. Goode writes: "I estimate that the amount of fish 
annually thrown away from the hundred and fifty-odd weirs on our 
coast cannot fall much short of ten millions of pounds annually, and 
probably far exceeds that." 

^^ Acidulated fish ^^ and '■'■fish and potash salts.'" 

298. The " acidulated fish " (class No. G on page 219) is prepared by 
treating the fish scrap with sulphuric acid to render the phosphoric 
acid more soluble. Unfortunately the constitution of the tissues of the 
fish is such as to resist the action of the acid, and the desired result is 
only partly attained, A sample examined under the writer's direction 
gave 7.09 per cent, of phosphoric acid, of which only 1.7G per cent, was 
soluble in water. 

It will be remembered that Pettitt's process for the manufacture of 
fish waste into a fertilizer was based upon treatment of the fish with 
acid, and did not prove a success. 

Various efibrts in this same direction are reported in this country and 
in Europe, but none, as I can learn, have been found i)rofitable. The 
imperviousness of tlie tissues to the action of the acid has thus far been 
an insurmountable obstacle to success, and will probably remain so. 

The " fish and potash salts " (class No. 7, above) is a mixture, as its 
name rei)reseDts, of fish, half-dry scrap ajjparently, in the specimens I 
have seen, with German potash salts. The idea is a sound one, in that 
the salts used, doubtless of the lower grades, like Leopoldshall Kainit, 
and containing large percentages of chloride of sodium (common salt), 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 227 

would act as a preservative, and further, the potash supplies a lack in 
the fish and makes of it a " comiDlete " fertilizer. 

The amounts of the " acidulated " fish and "fish and potash salts "in 
the market are so small as to give them very little importance. 

Mamifacture of '•'' ammoniated superpJiosphafes." 

297. The most important use of fish waste is in the manufacture of 
nitrogenous, '' ammoniated," superphospates. These fertilizers, which 
constitute by far the largest class in the market, owe their vahie mainly 
to the two ingredients, nitrogen and phosphoric acid. For phosphoric 
acid various fossil and mineral phosphates, particularly those from South 
Carolina and the Island of Navassa, are employed. Of late, miues of 
apatite have been opened in Canada, and promise to be a rich and im- 
portant source of i^hosphates for this purpose. The waste boneblack 
from sugar refineries is also used in very large quantities for the same 
purpose. Bone meal is likewise employed, but to a limited extent. The 
phosphoric acid in all of these is in insoluble or very slowly soluble 
forms. To render it more available, the phosphates are treated with 
sulphuric acid, and thus superphosphates are produced. 

Various materials are used to supply nitrogen (ammonia) to super- 
phosphates. Dried blood and meat-scrap from slaughter-houses are, 
next to fish, the most important materials in common use for this pur- 
pose. Formerly a good deal Peruvian guano was employed. In Europe 
considerable sulphate of ammonia is used, but manufacturers there are 
learning that they can get nitrogen cheaper in American fish and slaugh- 
ter-house products, and thousands of tons of our best nitrogenous 
materials are annually taken from us and sent across the Atlantic to 
enrich English, French, and German soils. 

According to the report of Mr. Maddocks, already referred to, " nine- 
tenths of the fish scrap turned out at the works of the Maine associa- 
tion are bought by the manufacturers of superphosphate to ammoniate 
their products, of which 400,000 tons are produced yearly in the United 
States. They combine it, when dried and pulverized, Avith South Car- 
olina phosphatic rock, ground bones, with imported guano deficient in 
ammonia, &c. It is understood that not over one ton of the fish guano 
is used in connection with three or four tons of the mineral ingredients." 

The largest manufacturers of superphosphates in this country are 
the Pacific Guano Company, whose works are at Wood's Holl, Mass., 
and near Charleston, S. C. This company use fish and the Charleston 
phosphate for the manufacture of their superphosphate, the " Soluble 
Pacific Guano." The Quinnipiac Fertilizer Company, of jSTew Haven, 
Conn., whose works are on Pine Island, near New London, Conn., and 
the Cumberland Bone Company, of Boothbay, Maine, are, with the 
Pacific Guano Company, the best representatives of this most useful 
industry. The detailed descriptions of their factories and methods of 
manufacture, prepared by Mr. Goode, are at once too extensive to be 



228 EEPOET OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

conveniently inserted here, and of too much interest to be condensed, 
and are therefore given in the Appendix O. 

50. Chemical composition op menhaden and op pish manures. 

Analysis oficJiole menhaden and of flesh and bones ofivhale. 

298. The only analysis of whole menhaden 1 have noticed is given by 
Prof. G. H. Cook.* The specimens were taken in the Karitau lliver 
the latter part of October. 

" Five of tbe fish weighed four and one-fourth pounds — their average 
weight being three quarters of a pound. The oil was first separated by 
adding water to the fish and boiling until the flesh was reduced to a 
]>ulp. The oil was then skimmed off and purified from water and other 
substances by ether. It then weighed 2. GO ounces, which is equivalent 
to 3.914 per cent, of the original weight of the fish. The substance of 
the fish remaining was then strained out and carefullj^ dried in an air 
bath, at a temperature of 290<^ F,, when the dry mass was found to weigh 
11.8 ounces. On account of the solvent power of the sulphuric acid, 
which was added to the fish, it was thought proper to separate all the 
mineral matters from the fluid in which the fish had been boiled, add 
them to the dried fish, excluding of course the sulphuric acid. These 
weighed 1.1 ounces, and added to the weight of dried fish given above, 
11.8 ounces, made lor the whole weight of the dried matter 12.9 ounces, 
which is equivalent to 18.93 per cent, of the original weight of the fish. 
There was sii'l left in the fluid some animal matter, which could not be 
satisfactorily separated, and was left out. The water in the fish was 
77.15 per cent, as ascertained by deducting the percentage of oil and 
dried matter from lUO. The nitrogen in the dried fish was ascertained 
by ultimate analysis to be 7.76 per cent., which is equivalent to 9,28 per 
cent, of ammonia. The mineral substances contained in the fish were 
freed from the organic matter by pressing, and then separated from 
each other by the ordinary process of analysis." 
Analysis of the fresh flsJi. 

Water 77. 150 

Oil . . - 3. 914 

Dried fish 18. 93G 

Analysis of the dried flsh. 

Lime 8. G7 

Phosphoric acid 7. 78 

Silicic acid 1. 33 

Potash 1. 54 

Soda 1. 02 

Magnesia 0. G7 

Chlorine 0. CO 

Organic matter and loss ... , 78. 30 

100. 00 
* Geology of New Jersey, 1868, p. 497. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 



229 



The following analysis by Stockbardt* of tbe flesb and bones of the 
whale may not be without interest in this connection : 

I. — Flesh of the whale. 



Water 

Fat 

Flesh 

Mineral constituents (asli) . 
Nitrogen 



Raw, per 
cent. 



44.50 

22. 81 

3j. 10 

l.(;4 

4. feG 



Perfectly 
dry (iu- 
cudin <; 
lat), per 
cent. 



4'i. -0 
57.44 

1.86 
8. 08 



Withoat fat 
and entire- 
ly dry, per 
cent. 



96.80 
3.20 
14.60 



II. — Steamed bones of the tvhale. 

Water , 3.84 jjer cent. 

Cartilaginous mass (glue). 34. GO " =(3.5 per cent, nitrogen.) 

Fat 1.34 " 

Bone phosphate of lime.. 51. CG " =(23.GG jier cent, phosphoric 

acid.) 
Carbonate of lime 8. 5G " 

Analysis of fish fertilizers. 
299. The following tables illustrate the composition of some of our 
more common fish fertilizers. Those in Table A are from analyses re- 
ported by the writer. t Those in Table B are reported by Prof. S. W. 
Johnson : | 

TABLE A. 



Kind of fertilizer. 



Dry ground fish : 

Grounii tisb, G. \V. Miles 

Fish guauK, G. W. Mile.s 

Charles Island guano, G. W. MJes. . 

Allyn's fertilizer 

Allyn's feriilizer 

Dry gronnd lish, Quiunipiac Ferti- 
liztr Coiiipauy 

Dry ground lisii, C^uiEuipiac Ferti- 
lizer Coiupany 

Dry groiuiil lish, Quinnipiac Ferti- 
lizer Company 

Dry ground huh, Quinnipiac Ferti- 
lizer Company 

Acidulated lish, Quinnipiac Ferti- 
lizer Couipauy 

Dried Jinh scrap: 

"Dry lish," Green Brothers 

" Dried fi.sh" 

'•Dry lish'' 

" Fish scrap " 

'■Dry hsh" 

' ' Dry tish " 

Half-dry fish scrap : 

Fish scrap, "half dry " 

Fish scrap, "b..lf dry" 

Crude fish pomaca : 

' ■ Fish scrap " 



10 

28 
80 
24 

185 

100 
140 
173 
203 
222 

170 

182 
189 
190 
196 
199 

103 
131 



^ 



Per ct. 
18.74 
21. 9d 

8.63 



6.34 
14.64 
10.85 
13.45 

8.22 

36. 53 

11.04 
9.37 

11.00 
7.74 
7.59 



40.95 
25.10 



56.83 



Per ct. 
01.82 
50.99 
71.79 



71.31 



68.40 
63.97 



39.89 
64.01 



43.06 
56. 17 



Per ct. 
19.44 
27.05 
19.41 
16.37 
22. 35 

22.23 

20.75 

22. 58 

20.41 

23.58 

24.95 
19. 92 
20. 17 



15.99 
18.73 



Per ct. 

7.6.3 
8.66 
7.74 
6.17 
7.90 

6.67 

7.21 

7. 55 

8.11 

*7.09 

10.51 
7,10 
7.12 



6.23 
7.49 



"i^ 



Per ct. 

8.06 
6.07 

8.84 
8.80 

7.88 

7.50 

7.38 

7.90 

8.25 

4.11 

8.60 
8.13 

7.40 
7.10 
7.79 
7.65 

5.33 
5.49 



C O it 



Per ct. 

9. 78 
7. 36 
10. 73 
10.68 
9.50 

9.11 

8.97 

9 66 

10.00 

4.99 

10.44 
9.86 
9.05 
8.61 
9.46 
9.28 

6.47 
6.66 



Per ct. 
6.71 



6. 35 
7.33 



7.08 



6.63 
8.94 



3.93 

'a 29 



* Per cent, s jluble iu water, 1 .76 ; per cent, soluble in ammonium citrate, 2.47. 
* Chemiscbe Ackerstuauu XVI, 1870, 52. 

t Report of Connecticut Agriciiltitral Experiment Station, 187C, p. 63. 
X Report of Connecticut Agricultural ExiJeriment Station, 1877, p. 41. 



230 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



TABLE B. 



Kind of fertilizer. 



Dry ground flsh-scrap 

Dry ground fish-scrap 

Dry ground iish-scrap, old, 187G . 
Dry ground flsh-scrr.p, now, 1877 

Dry ground flsh-scrap 

Dry groimd tish-srrap 

Dry grouud Iish-scrap 

Dry ground flsh-scrap 

Dry ground Iish-scrap 

Dry ground fi^h-scrap 

Diy ground flsh-sciap 

Dry ground flsh-scrap 

Average 

Fish by Adamson'a process 

rish by Ad.imson's process 

l''ish by Goodalo's process 



Per et. 
10.75 



10.59 
23.95 



10.57 
9.03 

11.38 

10.74 
9.76 

11.19 



13. ce 



4.91 

3.07 

11. '15 



^ 



Per ct. 

8.5-2 
8.21 
7.35 
7.30 
9. 20 
8.77 
7. D8 
8.04 
8.51 
8.43 
7.77 
8.78 



8.24 



10. 78 
10.74 
10.24 



Per ct. 
9.54 



8.81 
9. ^>0 



9.02 
8.83 
9.00 
9.44 

8. CI 

9. 88 



9.36 



11.32 
11. 15 
11.56 



Per ct. 



8. 94 
7.30 



8.12 
2.07 
4.64 



'W aste from faulty manufacture and use of fish fertilizers. 

300. An enormous loss results to our agriculture from the waste of fish 
that might be saved, from faulty mjiuufacture of fish into fertilizers, 
from wrong use of the fertilizers when made, and from the exportation 
of the best products to Europe, where their value is better understood. 
This loss will bo prevented in proportion as the nature and uses of fish 
manures are learned. 



51. The use of fish fertilizers in agriculture. 
CJiemistry of plant nutrition. 

301. Kot only farmers and merchants, but many manufacturers as 
well, have a very poor understanding of what constitutes the value of 
fish as fertilizers, and how they may be most economically utilized. It 
will be well, therefore, to consider briefly some of the principles that 
decide the value and usefulness of fertilizers in general, and of fish 
products in particular. 

Fish manures, like other commercial fertilizers, are valuable because 
they supply plant-food which crops need and soils fail to furnish. Their 
main value depends upon their content of nitrogen and phosphoric 
acid. These are the most valuable and costly ingredients of commercial 
fertilizers. 

Plants, like animals, require food for life and growth. A part of the 
food of plants is supplied from the atmosphere, the remainder is de- 
rived from the soil. No ordinary cultivated plant can thrive without a 
sufiicieut supply of each of a number of substances needed for its food. 
With an abundance of all of these in forms in which the plant can use 
them, and with other circumstances favorable, the plant will flouri?h 
and the yield be large. But if the available supply of any one of (hem 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 231 

be too small, a light yield is inevitable. For instance, potash is an essen- 
tial ingredient of the food of phiuts. If ail the other conditions for a 
profitable crop of corn or potatoes, or other plants, are fuitilled in the 
soil, except that potash is deficient, the crop will inevitably fail. But 
if the potash be supplied the yield will be abundant. The chief use of 
fertilizers is to supply the plant-food which the soil lacks. 

Vegetable and animal substances, and manures and soils as well, con- 
tain, besides water, two kinds of materials, the so-called organic matter 
and the mineral matter or ash. 

The organic matter consists chiefly of the four chemical elements, 
carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen. We do not need to trouble our- 
selves about the first three of these in fertilizers, because they are sup- 
plied to the plant in abundance by the atmosphere and the soil through 
the leaves and through the roots. 

But the nitrogen is an important ingredient of fertilizers. It is, in its 
pure state, a gas, and makes up about four-fifths of the air. Combined 
with hydrogen it forms ammonia ; combined with oxygen it is known as 
nitric acid. In these and other combinations it occurs in minute quanti- 
ties in the atmosphere, and in considerable quantities in soils and manures. 
Plants are unable to make use of the pure nitrogen of the air, though 
some, if not all, absorb a very little combined nitrogen from the atmos- 
])here. By far the largest part of the nitrogen of plants is absorbed 
fioui the soil through the roots. From the facts that nitrogen is avail- 
able to plants only in certain combinations, that it is slow to form and 
easily leaves these compounds, that it readily escapes from manures 
and soils into the air, and is leached away by water, it is one of the most 
commonly deficient and hence the most costly ingredients of the food of 
plants. 

The mineral matter or ash of plants is derived entirely from the soil. 
It consists of several ingredients, known as potash, soda, lime, magnesia, 
iron, silica, sulphuric acid, i)hosp';oric acid, and chlorine. 

Essential ingredients of plant-food. 

302. The results of a vast amount of this sort of experimenting prove 
that no agricultural plant can attain full growth without a sufficient sup- 
l)ly, through its roots, from the soil, of potash, lime, magnesia, iron, phos- 
phoric acid, sulphuric acid, and some compound oH nitrogen. Besides these, 
cidorine, and perhaps silica, are sometimes, if not always, indispensa- 
ble, though in very small projjortions, to complete development. If any 
one of these essential ingredients be lacking the plant will suffer in growth 
nud development. 

Exhaustion of soil hy various crops. 

303. Crops take from the soil, then, the materials needful for their 
growth; and these are rightly called "plant-food." Some soils yield 
large crops many years in succession without manuring. They do this 



232 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



because they contain large stores of the ingredients of plant-food, as 
potash, lime, nitrogen, &c., and because these are furnished in available 
lorms, so that the plant can readily use tbem. As a rule, after cropping 
for some time, the point is reached where the natural resupply of i)laut- 
food is insufficient to produce large crops. In other words, in the 
so-called "poor," "worn-out," or "exhausted" soils, the natural strength 
is insufficient for profitable production. 

In order to know what fertilizers to use on such soils we must know 
what ingredients of plant-food are deficient, and what manures will best 
supply tbem. An idea of the essential ingredients of plant- food removed 
from the soil in cropping may be obtained from the table below, wbich 
is calculated from the extensive tables of analyses of plants by Wolff. 

Materials remolded from the soil hy vai-ious crops. 



Crops. 


o 

1- . 

3-3 


o 

o 
-a -3 

11 


a 
2 


<o 
a 
to 
a 


4, 
1 

PL, 


n 

to 




EYE. 


Pounds. 
0.3 

3.8 


Pounds. 
11.8 
7.3 


Pounds. 
0.7 
12.2 


Pounds. 
2.9 
3.9 


Pounds. 

7.8 
27.3 


Pounds. 
24.6 




14.0 






Total 

OATS. 


4. I 

0.4 
2.6 

3.0 

0.1 
3.3 


19.1 

6.0 
3.8 

9.8 

9.5 
. 6.6 


12.9 

1.0 
7.2 

8.2 

0.7 
8.1 


6.8 

1.8 
3.2 

5.0 

2.4 
3.3 


35.1 

4.2 

17.8 

22.0 

6.4 
18.9 


38.6 
18.4 




11.2 


Total 


29.6 


WHEAT. 


25.0 




14.4 






Xotal 


3.4 

0.6 

7.8 


16.1 

16.5 
34. 5 


8.8 

0.8 
26.0 


5.7 

5.6 
16.9 


25.3 

10.4 
02.4 


39.4 


CORN. 


44.8 




31.2 






Total 


8.4 


51.0 


26.8 

25.8 

1.8 


22.5 
9.9 
'3.0 


72.8 
39.6 
51.3 


76.0 






HAT. 


7.2 

5.4 

14 
3 


12.3 

1.44 

7.5 
15 


46.5 


POTATOES. 


30. C 






TOBACCO. 


73 
15 


17 


71 
47 


49 




33 






Total 


17 


22.5 


83 


19 


118 


S2 







Large quantities of silica, and small quantities of soda, chlorine, and 
iron, are also removed from the soil by every crop. Iron is necessary to 
the growth of all agricultural plants, but in very minute quantity. In 
many cases s.n-^11 amounts of chlorine seem to bo requisite. Silica, if 
needed at all, which is quite doubtful, is required only in extremely 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 233 

minute proportions. Soda does not appear to be an essential ingredient 
of plant food. In so far as these latter are essential ingredients of plant 
food, they are furnished in abundance by every ordinary soil. 

Ingredients most commonly lacking in worn-out soils, and hence most im- 
portant in fertilizers ; nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash. 

304. For our present purposes, then, we have to consider only the 
potash, lime, magnesia, sulphuric acid, and nitrogen. Of this list the 
magnesia is commonly, though not always, supplied in sufficient quan- 
tities in even " worn-out " soils. Sometimes its presence in fertilizers 
may be of considerable importance to crops. Sulphuric acid and lime 
are more often deficient, and heuce one reason of the good effect so often 
observed from the application of lime and plaster. 

The remaiuing substances, the nitrogen, phosi)horic acid, and potash, 
are the most important ingredients of our common commercial fertilizers, 
because of both their scarcity in the soil and their high cost. It is in 
supplying these that fish guano, phosphates, and bone manures are 
chiefly uselul. 

In brief, then, in order that crops may grow, they must have at their 
disposal an adequate supply, in available forms, of ecch one of a certain 
list of essential ingredients of their food. Soils differ in respect to their 
supplies of these food ingredients. The crop cannot rise above the level 
of the lowest ingredient in the food sui)ply. The chief use of fertilizers 
is to fill up the gaps. 

Frinciples to he observed in the manvfacture and purchase of fertilizers. 

305. The cardinal principle to be observed by the farmer in the pur- 
chase of i'ertiiizers is, to — 

Select those which furnish, in the best form and at the lowest cost, the 
ingredients of plant-food that his crops need, and his soil fails to supply. 

The principle that should guide the manufacturer should be, to — 

Economize all available materials in his manufactnrc so as to furniah the 
valuable ingredients in the best forms in products of high grade and uniform 
composition, and at the fairest practicable rates. 

The most important ingredients of our fertilizers, because the most 
rare and costly, are nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash. The two first 
are the most important. These are supplied in large proportions in fish. 

Composition, character, costs, and uses of fertilisers in getieral. 

306. It will be to our purpose, then, to note briefl,y : 

1. The composition of some of our more imi)ortant commercial ferti- 
lizing materials, particularly those whicli,like fish manures, contain nitro- 
gen and phosphoric acid ; in other words, the analyses of these ferti- 
lizers. 

2. The comparative costs and values of the active fertilizing ingredi' 
ents in these articles j or, in other words, the commercial valuations. 



234 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

3. The forms of combination in which the valuable ingredients occur, 
and their consequent agricultural values. 

4. Some of the ways in which the fertilizers may be improved, and 
their values increased. 

In the consideration of these topics, which must be brief, some data 
will be used which may be found in more detail in i^revious articles 
and reports by the writer. * 

Explanations of cliemical terms used in fertilizer analyses. 

307. The following explanations of terms used in fertilizer analyses- 
will be of use to those not familiar with such subjects : 

Moisture. — All fertilizers contain more or less water, which, of 
course, has no commercial value, and serves to make them heavier and 
relatively poorer in valuable ingredients. In the analysis, that which is 
removed by heating to 212° Fahrenheit (or, in some cases, to a some- 
what higher temperature) is designated as moisture. By subjecting 
the dried material to a higher temperature, the organic and volatile mat- 
ters are driven off, and the ash remains. By treaiing this ash with 
strong acids, all that is of any value is dissolved. 

Sand and insoluble matters. — The residue, which resists the 
action of both fire and strong acids, consists of silica and other mineral 
matters. These possess no fertilizing value, and are classified as sand, 
&c. 

JsiTROGEN. Ammonia. — In our ordinary fertilizers much or all of the 
nitrogen exists in unavailable forms. By more or less rapid alterations, 
by decay or otherwise, which take place in the soil, these are changed to 
other compounds, which the plant can readily use as food. Of these lat- 
ter, nitric acid, which contains nitrogen combined with oxygen, is one ; 
ammonia, which consists of nitrogen and hydrogen, and is represented 
by the chemical formula NH3, is another. Fourteen parts by weight of 
nitrogen unite with 3 parts of hydrogen to form 17 parts of ammonia. 
Accordingly, 14 parts of nitrogen are said to be equivalent to 17 of am- 
monia, or what is the same thing, 100 parts of nitrogen are reckoned as 
equivalent to 121 parts of ammonia. In pure sulphate of ammonia all 
the nitrogen is in the form of ammonia. In Peruvian guano sonje of the 
nitrogen exists as ammonia also. In our other ordinary fertilizers there 
is little or no ammonia. The very common practice of reckoning nitrogen 
as ammonia in fertilizers which do not contain it in this form is incorrect, 
misleading, and therefore wrong, and ought to be abolished. 

Ammonia combined wit-h sulphuric acid forms sulphate of ammo- 
nia; nitric acid combined with soda forms nitrate of soda. 

Phosphoric acid: soluble, reverted, and insoluble. — By 
l)hosphoric acid is understoo.l the compound of [)hosphorus and oxygen 
which is represented by the chemical formula P2O5, or PO5. This, com- 
bined with lime, forms phosphate of lime. The phosphate of lime which 

* See particularly report of Couu. Agl. Expt. Station iu Report of Conn. Board of 
Agriculture for 187G. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 235 

occurs in bones, and in Sonth Carolioa and other fossil and mineral 
phosphates, contains 3 par.s of lime to 1 of phosphoric acid. This 
is often called bone phosi)hate, and is insoluble in water. When the 
bone phosphate is treated with sulphuric acid, the latter takes part of 
the lime to itself, formiugf sulphate of lime, and leaves the phosphoric 
acid in the form of a superphosphate. This last is soluble in water, is 
more readily diffused through the soil, and when used as a fertilizer 
can be taken up by the plant at once, while the bone phosphate is 
slowly available as plant food. Phosphoric acid which has been ren- 
dered soluble often enters into other forms of combination, with lime, 
aluminia, &c., which, though insoluble in water, are soluble in citrate of 
ammonia. The terms "reverted," "reduced," and "precipitated" are 
applied to it when in this form. The reverted phosphoric acid ranks in 
solubility, in capability of ditfusiou through the soil, and consequently 
in value, between the soluble and insoluble. The soluble and reverted 
axe sometimes classed together as available phosphoric acid. 

In some analyses the percentage of phosphoric acid is not stated sep- 
arately, that of "bone phosphate of lime" being given in its stead. 
Sometimes the expression " soluble bone phosphate of lime " is met 
with, which is certainly a misnomer. One hundred parts by weight of 
phosphoric acid unite with about 118 parts of lime to form 218 parts of 
bone phosphate ; 100 parts or pounds of phosphoric acid are said, there- 
fore, to be equivalent to 218 parts of bone phosphate. I lay especial 
stress on this point, because those not familiar with chemistry are apt 
to be deceived in comparing analyses in some of which the term phos- 
Ijhoric acid and in others the term bone phosphate is used. It would 
be more accurate and clear, and in every way better, to discard the term 
bone phosphate of lime in analyses of fertilizers, and speak only of 
phosphoric acid. 

Potash, or potassa, is the compound of the metal potassium with 
oxygen, which is represented by the chemical formula K2() or KO. 
This, combined with sulphuric acid, forms sulphate of potash. Potas- 
sium and chlorine together form chloride of potassium, or "muriate of 
potash," as it is called by dealers. 

As the analyses and the valuations of the fertilizers to be discussed 
can be given most concisely and clearly together in tables, explanations 
of the latter subject may "properly be given here. 

Valuations of commercial fertilizers. 

308. The agricultural value of a fertilizer, the gain which will result 
from its use in a given case, is subject to such varying conditions of soil, 
climate, culture, and crop, as to preclude the possibility of exact esti- 
mate. The commercial value, being dependent upon its composition and 
the state of the market, admits of more nearly correct calculation. 

It is customary to make estimates of the commercial values by attrib- 
uting to each of the imi)ortant ingredients a certain value per pound ; 



236 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

that is to say, each pound of iiitrog:en, phosphoric acid, and potash is 
rated at a certain ptice, and the value of a ton of the fertilizer calcu- 
lated on this basis, just as a grocer would make out a bill for a lot of 
tea, coffee, sugar, by charging a certain price per pound for each, and 
adding the products to make the amount of the bill. It will be remem- 
bered that each per cent, or pound in 100 pounds will be equal to 20 
130unds in a ton of 2,000 pounds. 

Here, for instance, is an analysis and valuation by Professor Goess- 
manu: 

Fish guano. 

Per cent. 

Moisture at 1000-110° C 17.50 

Organic matter 513. 20 

Ash constitueuts 29. 30 

Phosphoric acid in ash 7. 72 

Nitrogen iu organic matter G. 46 

Valuation per ton of 2,000 pounds : 

154.4 pounds of phosphoric acid, at 6 cents per pound $9.26 

129.2 pounds of nitrogen, at 25 cents per pound 32.30 

$41. .56 

The following statements are from the Connecticut experiment sta- 
tion report for 1876. 

The statements and tables given in the other parts of this report will 
supply sufficient data for judging the values of nitrogen, phosphoric 
acid, and potash in different forms in which they are most commonly 
obtained iu the markets. The commercial value of a fertilizer of which 
the analysis is given may be calculated by the following rule : 

I. Multiply the per cent, of each valuable ingredient by 20 to get the 
number of pounds in a ton of 2,000 pounds. Multiply the number (thus 
found) of pounds of each ingredient by its assumed value per pound. 
The sum of these products will be the estimated commercial value of a 
ton of the fertilizer. Or, 

II. Multiply the number of" units" (per cent.) of each ingredient by 
the assumed value per unit, and add the products. The sum will be 
the estimated value per ton. 

What will be fair valuations will depend upon the material by which 
they are furnished, their market value at the time, the amounts ])ur- 
chased, time of payment, distance from market, &c. For the common 
superphosphates, bought in ton-lots for cash in our larger cities, the 
following figures will not be far out of the way : 

Per pound. Per unit. 

Nitrogen 21 cents. $4 20 

Phosphoric acid, soluble 12-J cents. 2 50 

Phosphoric acid, reverted 9 cents. 180 

Phosphoric t.cid, ins., from bones, meat.orfish 6 cents. 120 

Phosphoric acid, Ins., from bone-black 5 cents. 100 

Phosphoric acid, ins., from fossil and mineral phosphates 3^ cents. 65 

It must be remembered, however, that the values thus calculated are 
not agricultural values. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 237 

The following rates of valuation were adopted by Professor Goess- 
mann in 1874-'75 and 1875-'76 : 

1&74-'T5. lf37ri-76. 

Per pound. Per pound. 

Soluble phosphoric acid _ , IG. 25 cents. 12. 5 cents. 

lieduced , 13 cents. 10 cents. 

Insrlnble phosphoric acid in mineral phosphates 5 cents. 4 cents. 

Insoluble phosphoric acid in bones, fish, and animal dust 6 cents. 6 cents. 

Nitrogen 30 cents. 25 cems. 

Potassium oxide in muriate 8 cents. G cents. 

Potassium oxide in sulphate 8 cents. 8 cents. 

Professor Johnson, in the report of the Connecticut station for 1877, 
says as follows : 

'•The following are the trade-values or cost in market, per pound, of 
the ordinarily occurring forms of nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash, 
as recently found in the New York and New England markets : 

Cents per pound. 

Nitrogen in ammonia and nitrates 24 

Nitrogen in Peruvian guano, fine steamed bone, dried and fine-ground blood, 

meat, and fish 20 

Nitrogen in fine-ground bone, horn, and wool dust 18 

Nitrogen in coarse bone, horn shavings, and fish scrap 15 

Phosphoric acid soluble in water 12i 

Phosphoric acid ' reverted ' and in Peruvian guano 9 

Phosphoric acid, insoluble, in fine bone and fish guano 7 

Phosphoric acid, insoluble, in coarse bone, bone ash, and bone-black 5 

Phosphoric acid, insoluble, in fine ground rock phosphate 3^^ 

Potash in high-grade sulphate 9 

Potash in kaiuit as sulphate 71 

Potash in muriate or potassium chloride 9 

" These ' estimated values' are not fixed, but vary with the state of 
the market, and are from time to time subject to revision. They are not 
exact to the cent or its fractions, because the same article sells cheaper 
at commercial or onanufactnring centers than in country towns, cheaper 
in large lots than in small, cheaper for cash than on time. These values 
are high enough to do no injustice to the dealer, and accurate enough to 
serve the object of the consumer. * * * The 'estimated values per 
pound' in the above schedule are similar to those employed by Dr. 
Goessmann and Professor Atwater in their recent reports." 

This method of estimating the commercial values of fertilizers has. 
been long practiced and has its uses, particularly as a forcible meaus of 
illustrating frauds, and as the first step in the process of educating farm- 
ers and manufacturers. People who are not familiar with chemical 
terms understand dollars and cents, and are much more impressed by a 
fertilizers " analyzing" $30 per ton when the price is $45, than by its 
containing only six per cent, of soluble phosphoric acid when it ought to 
have twelve. 

These calculations are, however, open to serious objections, with the 
rest, because they not only differ very widely from the agricultural 



238 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

values, but also in many cases decidedly misrepresent the commercial 
values. It is on this account that they have so generally fallen into 
disuse or been discarded in England and Germany. 

For the present purpose, another method, which has been proposed 
in the Connecticut station reports, is more fitting. It consists in com- 
paring the different materials by the costs cfthe ingredients per pound.* 

So weighty a matter as this demands full consideration. I therefore 
give here a table, in which are stated the composition and prevailing 
market-price per ton, a considerable number of the more important com- 
mercial fertilizers in our markets, and the costs per i)ound of the 
nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash in each at the prices named. 
Those designated by Arabic numerals were analyzed under the writer's 
direction. The others are taken from dealers' price-lists. Where several 
prices are given for the same article, the lower ones apply to smaller 
and the higher to larger lots. 

"See Appendix, for details of method of these calculations and for tables of analy- 
ses of a number of commercial fertilizers. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 



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HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 



243 



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244 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

Of the above figures it may be remarked : 

1. The articles are of the higher grades. The poorer articles with 
which the markets are infested are not taken into account. The nitrog- 
enous superphosphates, for instance, were among the best of about 
fifty samples from which the selections were made. 

2. The costs of the ingredients vary widely in the different articles. 
This is illustrated by the following figures, which rei^reseut average 
market-rates : 



Fertilizers.* 



Nitrate of soda , 

Sulphate of ammonia 

Dried blood „ 

Superphosphates 

Potash salts, sulphates 

Potash salts, muriates 

Slaughter-house refuse 

BoDC manures, best 

Bone manures, medium 

Bone manures, inferior 

Nitrogenous superphosphates, best 

Nitrogenous superphosphates, medium 
Nitrogenous superphosphates, inferior. 

Peruvian guanos 

Dry ground fish guano 

Dry llsh-scrap 

Half-dry fish-scrap 



Costs per pound in cents. 



Nitrogen. 



24 to 25 
24 to 25 
19 to 23 



15 to 20 

10 to 12 

14 to]G 

18 to 24 

18 to 21 

24 to 28 

30 to 40 

17 to 21 

18 to 22 
10 to 15 

U to 11 



Phosphoric acid. 



Soluble. Total 



10 to 11 



10 to 12 



11 to 12^- 
14 to 16 
18 to 24 
10 to 12J 



5 to 6 
7 to 8 
9 to 12 



5 to 8 

6 to 12 



7 to H 
4ito 6 
3ito 4i 



Potash. 



8 
4k to 5 



5J to Gi 



Melative values of different fertilizers. — Fish and Peruvian guanos. 

309. From these figures, which represent a somewhat extensive and 
thorough survey of the northern and eastern fertilizer markets, it appears 
that, taking into account composition and i)rice, fish manures furnish 
the active manurial ingredients, nitrogen and phosphoric acid, at lower 
rates than any other commercial fertilizers except bone manures. But 
in bone, the fertilizing ingredients act more slowly. Takiug the form 
of combination, the availability, into account, the nitrogen and ])hospho- 
ric acid in bone can. rival those of fish, only when they are wanted for 
slow and long-continued use, as in " seeding down" with grass. 

'Next in order of cheapness come Peruvian guanos. In fiiirness, how- 
ever, these ought to be compared only with the dried and finely pulverized 
fish guanos. Indeed, a pound of nitrogen or phosphoric acid is doubtless 
worth on the average considerably more, agriculturally, in Peruvian gu- 
ano than in even the driest and finest fish. 



* As was remarked, the nitrogenous superphosphates in the table preceding this were the best of 
some fifty samples of a largo number of brands analyzed at this jilace. In that list, and in those in the 
appendix, can bo seen the data upon ivhifh the above figures are based. The analyses from which the 
tables are made up were made under the direction of the writer, into whoso hands not far from three 
hundred samples of the commercial fertilizers in the Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore 
markets have lately come for examination. Fraudulent articles are excluded from the computation. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 245 

This leads us to consider the values of nitrogea and phosphoric acid 
in different forms of combination. In general, it may be said that nitro- 
gen Is in its most readily avaihible forms in sulphate of ammonia and ni- 
trate of soda; that it becomes quickly useful to tbe i^lant in Peruvian 
guano, more slowly so in fish, dried blood, and meat scraps, and is very 
long in becoming available in leather scraps, hoof and horn shavings, 
hair, and the like. Soluble phosphoric acid is ready for use at once. 
The insoluble phosphoric acid of fish guano, meat, and finely steamed 
bones, acts more or less quickly, but in coarse pieces of bone and in 
bone black its action is very slow. In the South Carolina, Nevassa, 
Canada, and other mineral and fossil phosphates, it is of comparatively 
little value. 

The nitrogen and phosphoric acid in coarse fish scraps are less valua- 
ble than in fine dry fish, for two reasons : they are more bulky to trans- 
port and apply, and are less available to plants when applied. 

In 100 pounds of dry guano, there will be say, 10-15 pounds of water, 
while 100 pounds of half-dry scrap will contain 40-50 pounds of water. 
To get 100 pounds of dry matter will require on the average, say, 112 
pounds of guano and 180 pounds of the half-dry scrap. 

Again, the finely ground fish distributed evenly and thoroughly 
through the soil, is readily decomposed, and thus conveyed where the 
largest number of roots may have access to it and its materials will be 
available to the roots when they find it. But the coarse scrap cannot 
be as well distributed either when it is appli^^d or by natural agencies 
afterward, less roots will get at it, and when they do find it they will not 
be able to use it as well as they could the more finely ground and better 
decomposed guano. Less of the coarse scrap will enure to the benefit of 
the first crop ; and of that which is left over, the phosphoric acid will 
remain in the soil for subsequent crops, but more or less of the nitro- 
gen will in the process of decomposition be set free and escape into the 
air, or be leached away by soil-waters beyond the reach of plants, or fixed 
in unavailable combinations in the soil and thus lost to vegetation. 

A great deal has been said about the relative values offish and Peru- 
vian guano. The following table gives the results of exi)eriments bearing 
upon this point. The experiments were made upon twenty different beet- 
sugar farms in and about Germany. The general plan and the details 
were the same for all. They were carried on by intelligent farmers, 
under the guidance of Dr. Grouven, director of the experiment station 
at Salzmlinde in Prussia. The figures represent the value in German 
thalers of the increase in yield over unmanured plots, taking into 
account not only the increase of the manured crop, but the after effect 
during two succeeding years. The fish guano was the ITorwegian, 



24G EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OP FISH AND FISHERIES. 

which has more nitrogen and much more phosphoric acid than our fish 
guanos. 





Gain overunmanured plots, in 


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n 


12.0 




17.8 
23.8 

8.8 


4.1 
7.7 
1.3 


4.0 
7.9 

7.8 


25.9 
39.4 
17.9 


15 
30 

8S 


10.9 




9.4 




9.2 




9.7 


2.4 


10.1 


22.2 


13 


9.2 




10.6 


1.3 


8.9 


20.8 


1^3 


3.5 




7.7 
11.1 

8.7 
14.2 


0.3 
J. 2 
0.7 
1.3 


2.5 
3.0 






10.5 
13.3 
9.4 
15.5 


9 
18 

8 
16 


1.5 




—2.7 




1.4 




—0.5 







The German thaler = 72 cents gold, nearly. 

The German cwt. or centner := 111 pounds, nearly. 

The German morgen = § acre, nearly. 

Comparing the plots which had 3 cwt. each of fish and Peruvian" guano 
it is to be observed that — 

1. The Peruvian guano cost nearly twice as much as the fish guano. 

2. The gain from the Peruvian guano, over and above the cost, was 
six times as much as that from the fish. 

These results are remariiably favorable for the Peruvian guano. But 
it is to be noted that these experiments were on two crops of sugar-beets, 
with one of grain between. With other crops the results might have 
been very difierent. 

Stoeckhardt, who has given as much attention to this matter as any 
one, infers, from a large number of fiald experiments made under his 
direction, that the fish guano is very nearly as effective as Peruvian. 

Aside from its content of potash, of which fish has as good as none, 
the greater value of Peruvian guano, which is a fish product, must be 
due in the main to the fact that, as the result of the changes effected in 
its passage through the bird and subsequently, the ingredients have en- 
tered into new, simpler, and more available forms of combination. Taking 
into account composition, quality, and price, the cheapest fertilizers in 
the market are Peruvian guanos; next to these come fish manures. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 247 

Ways of imj^roving fish manures. — Fermentation. 

310. The advantage of these changes in the composition of fertilizers 
is much better appreciated in Europe than here. Several ways are recom- 
mended to bring them about. One of these is by fermentation. 

The increasing importance of fish and bone manures in German 
agriculture has led Dr. Pagel, of the experiment station at Halle, to 
undertake a series of experiments to gain light upon the best means of pre- 
paring these for use. He recommends very strongly the plan of ferment- 
ing them with urine : " The method of fermentation furnishes a most 
excellent means for transforming the nitrogen in manures of organic 
origin, which is insoluble and slow in its action, into more soluble and 
consequently more active forms. It is hence peculiarly applicable to 
ground-bone and fish guano." He recommends to add about 30 quarts 
of urine to 100 pounds of bone or guano, and cover the heap with plaster 
(gyi)snra) or earth to prevent tlie escape of ammonia. If this is proj^erly 
clone, the mass will ferment, and the temperature rise to a little above 
100° Fahr. The completion of the process, for which three or four weeks 
should suflice, is indicated by the cooling of the heap. Pagel found 
nearly one half the nitrogen of fish to be made soluble in water by this 

process. 

Composting fish fertilizers. 

311. Another excellent method of utilizing fish is by composting. 
I can explain this in no better way than by referring to the experience 
of one of the most intelligent and successful farmers in our State, Mr. 
D., who lately called upon me to inquire about this subject. Mr. D.'s 
problem was simply how to get fertiliziug materials for his soil in the 
best and cheapest manner. He proposed this question : 

'' I understand that the superphosphate manufacturers make their 
fertilizers of fish scrap and phosphates, treating them with oil of vitriol 
to make the phosphoric acid and nitrogen more available. Now can't I 
accomplisli the same by composting in my barn-cellar "? 1 understand 
the elements must go out of their original combinations into others 
before they can become useful to my plants, and that the acid and the 
manufacturing help this change along. I can get fish scrap for 617 per 
ton. Can I not bring this change about in a compost-heap, and will it 
not be a great saving to me F 

The answer was plain : " Fish scrap at $17 per ton will bring nitrogen 
at say 10 cents and phosphoric acid at 5 cents per pound. In " am- 
moniated " superphosphates, you will pay from 20 to 30 cents or more 
per pound for nitrogen, and from 8 to 20 cents per pound for your phos- 
phoric acid." 

" Do I need a phosphate with the scrap ; if so, will bone be as good 
as anything ? I can get ground bone from a g.ue factory at $30 per 
ton." 

" The bone at that price will give phosphoric acid at say 5 cents and 



248 EEPOET OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

nitrogen at 10 cents per jDound. If rightly composted the ingredients 
will become available speedily and surely. For most soils and crops 
the increased proportion of phosphoric acid which the bone would add 
would be very advantageous." 

" I am persuaded that my soil wants potash. Should that be put in 
the compost; and, if so, what is the cheapest way to get it!" 

" If you can get fresh ashes cheap they will do very well. If not, 
the 'muriate of potash,' which coutaius 50 per cent. ' actual potash,' 
and can be bought in the larger markets at $45 or less per ton, will be 
best. But the ashes have the advantage over the potash-salt that they 
supply all the ingredients of plant food but nitrogen, and further, by 
virtue of their large amount of lime and alkalies, they aid the decompo- 
sition of the matters in the compost very materially. In absence of 
ashes, lime will serve an excellent jiurpose." 

Mr. D. explained his proposed method of composting, which con- 
sisted of mixing muck and mellow earth with the fisb, bone., potash- 
salts, and lime, in alternate layers, in heaps where the urine from the 
stables would be caught and absorbed. From previous experience he 
believed that he could secure a moderately rapid fermentation which 
would keep the heap warm, but not too hot, and after a reasonable time 
have gone so far as to decompose the fragments of fish and bone and 
leave the whole heap in a well-rotted and uniform condition. I could 
only say that this seemed to me an extremely rational, sensible, and 
profitable way of making manure. And I cannot answer the numerous 
questions I receive about the best way of composting fish for manure 
any better than by giving the conversation with Mr. D. substantially 
as I recall it. 

Improving Jislifor manure hy feeding it to stoclc. 

312. The most rational method of utilizing fish for manure, and the 
one which it seems to me must prove by far the most profitable way of 
economizing our waste fish products, is by feeding them to stock. 

European farmers have learned in their practice what science has ex- 
plained in theory, that just as the most reliable and useful manure is 
that i)roduced in the stable and barn-yard, so this manure can be vastly 
improved by Ibods rich in nitrogen. English, French, and German 
farmers have found the feeding of oil cake and meal so profitable that 
manufacturers, entirely unable to meet the demand from the home 
supply, ransack the markets of Russia, India, and the United States to 
obtain it. Our linseed and cotton-seed products are in great demand 
for foreign export. After our oil manufacturers have pressed out 
the oil, whose value is well enough understood in the commerical world 
to keep it at home, the press cake, whose worth our farmers have not 
yet learned, is sent abroad to enrich the cattle food, manure, and purses 
of foreign farmers who know what it is good for and how to use it. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 249 

What gives the value to these waste products is chiefly their nitrogen 
compounds. 

Cf late the importance of animal wastes, flesh, meal, dried blood, and 
fish has come to be understood, and a good many accurate experiments 
have been made to test their digestibility, their nutritive value, and 
that of the manure produced from them. This will be explained in 
the following section, paragraphs 314-325. I will here only refer in few 
words to the results of a late series of experiments by Wildt, at Proskau, 
and by Kellner, at Hohenheim, with Norwegian fish guano fed to sheep. 
It appears that sheep digest the most of the nitrogenous material of the 
flesh, and a large part of that of the bone. What is not stored away 
in the body of the animal is excreted as urea, one of the most valuable 
forms of nitrogen for plant food. Only a small part of the phosphoric 
acid is digested, but the remainder is left in a very finely divided form, 
and heoce much better for a manure. Kellner discusses the various 
methods employed for making the ingredients of fish more available 
for manure. Treatment with acid and caustic alkalies is unsatisfactory. 
Fermentation with urine is much better ; but the most convenient and 
profitable way he concludes to be that of passing it through the diges- 
tive organs of domestic animals. 

Practical conclusions. 

313. One very great obstacle to the profit from using fish as manure is 
the fact that it contains only nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and lime, and 
does not supply the other soil ingredients of plant-food. Where potash is 
wanted the fish cannot suffice. Illustrations of this are only too abun- 
dant. I have only to look out of the window where I write lo see in the 
distance a farm whose proprietor, some time ago, applied fish to one of 
his fields at the rate of nearly a ton to the acre, hoping to obtain a 
good crop of hay. In spite of this heavy and costly dressing the grass 
failed. At my suggestion he tried a series of experiments with difi"er- 
ent fertilizers to test the deficiencies of his soil. Wherever potash 
salts were used the crop was good ; without potash it failed. The best 
results were obtained with a " complete " fertilizer, containing nitrogen, 
phosphoric acid, and potash, such as could be made from fish and X3ot- 
ash salts. The recognition of facts like this often makes the difference 
between good profit and ruinous failure in farming. 

The large amount of nitrogen in fish makes it a "stimulating" ma- 
nure. It helps crops to get more of the food contained in the soil, and 
thus to "exhaust" the immediately available supply. Farmers ofcen 
complain that fish, like Peruvian guano, wears out their land. In Maine 
they talk of land that has been " herringed to death." In Connecticut 
we often see grasses leaving and sorrel coming in after such fertilizers 
are used. Some good farmers say their soil gets hard and "caked" 
after continuous use of fish. The remedies are, tillage and "use of other 
manures, ashes, lime, potash salts, bone, yard manure, muck, and so on. 



250 EEPOKT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

The Ditrogen iu fish makes it particularly good for grass and grain, 
but excess is apt to make grain "run to stalk " and lodge, and may in- 
jure or even kill any croj) for which it is used. 

Besides grain and grass crops, fish does well for corn, i^otatoes, garden 
vegetables, etc. It promotes the growth of tobacco, but is thought by 
many farmers to injure the quality of the leaf. 

The fine, dry fish-guano with little oil is the best. The coarse, wet 
scrap is inconvenient to handle, and cannot be well diffused through the 
soil. Concentrated fertilizers ought to be thoroughly mixed with the 
soil so as to be accessible to the largest number of roots and injure none. 
Neglect to observe this causes immense waste of fertilizing materials 
and loss of crops. If the coarse scrap is to be used it is best to com- 
post it. The lumps are thus divided, the material decomposed and 
changed to more available forms, its value for plant-food increased, and 
it can be applied so as to secure the greatest benefit with the least 
waste. 

Fermentation with uriqe, as described above, improves fish greatly. 

The best method of all for getting fish into forms most fit for plant- 
food is to feed it to stock. This brings a two-fold advantage: it sup- 
l)lies the nitrogen (protein albuminoids) that poor foods, such as straw, 
cornstalks, and poor hay lack, and makes excellent fodder from cheap 
materials, while the. nitrogen and phosphoric acid that are not used at 
the greatest possible profit to make flesh and bone are left in the ma- 
nure iu much better form for plant-food than they were in the fish. 

There is great need of improvement iu the manufacture of fish ma- 
nures. What is wanted is a fine, dry product with as little ballast of 
water and oil and as much nitrogen as possible. 

The chief obstacle to the better economizing of fi.sh in agriculture is 
lack of information as to the best ways of making and using the prod- 
ucts. To get this, careful scientific research and close practical obser-' 
vation are indispensable. Investigations in the laboratory and exper- 
iments in the field combined will bring the needed knowledge, and it 
will be worth a hundred times the cost. 

52. Fish as food for domestic ani3ials. 

Principles of animal nutrition. — European experiments. 

314. Undoubtedly the manure problem is the most important that the 
agriculture of our older States has to solve. The nest weightiest is the 
food question, how to best economize and improve our fodder materials. 
Inside this the most important special problem is how to obtain foods 
rich in nitrogen. Our feeding materials, taking them together, lack 
nitrogen. In consequence, our animals are insufficiently fed and fail to 
get the full benefit of the food they do have. The result is under- 
production of meat, dairy products, and work, and in turn poor manure 
and i)oor crops. European farmers have passed through this costly 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. Jol 

and bitter experience ahead of us, and have learned the cause and the 
cure. Necessity has driven tbem to study these ijroblems in ways of 
whose cost, extent, and beneficent results we on this side of the water 
have as yet only a faint conception. Hundreds, we might almost say 
thousands, of feeding experiments have been made with horses, oxen, 
cows, sheep, goats, swine, and other animals. Some of the ablest 
chemists and physiologists in Europe are devoting their lives to these 
special investigations. Governments, universities, agricultural schools, 
societies, and private individuals are giving money by hundreds of 
thousands of dollars for the work. In the last ten or fifteen years in- 
vestigation has been especially active. In twenty agricultural experi- 
ment stations, and in a large number of laboratories of universities and 
other schools, the studies are being carried on to-day, and already 
definite knowledge has been obtained which many thousands of farmers 
on the other side of the Atlantic are using to their profit, is beginning 
to come to us and will, with what must be added by our own efforts, 
prove of inestimable value to our agriculture. 

The lessons our foreign brethren have learned so dearly are free to us 
if we are wise enough to take and use them. Their substance is briefly 
this: 

The advanced agriculture of the present day looks upon the farm or 
the stable as a sort of manufacturing establishment. Domestic animals 
are the machines, food in the form of hay, grain, root crops, commercial 
food materials, &c., are the raw materials, and meat, milk, wool, labor, 
and progeny the iiroducts. 

In cattle-feeding, then, the important question is, how, with the foods 
at hand or obtainable, to get the most valuable product with the least 
outlay for raw material. 

Feeding for maintenance and production. — Ingredients of foods and their 

functions. 

315. Suppose that I have in my stable a cow, standing idle and giving 
no milk. She will require only food enough to supply the wastes result- 
ing from the changes that are continually taking place in her internal 
organism, from the continual building over and renewal of all parts of 
her body. A certain amount of food of a certain quality is necessary, 
then, to maintain her in good " store " condition. This she will need to 
"hold her own" when nothing else is required of her. 

But suppose that I demand of my cow production, say in the form of 
milk. For this purpose she will need more food. And, as everybody 
knows, the cow should have for the production of milk, not only a 
larger quantity, but also different quality of food from that which is 
needed for maintenance alone. 

If, instead of milking my cow, I wish to fat her for the butcher, I shall 
also require production, but of still another sort, of fat and flesh. And 
if, instead of a cow, I have an ox that is to be kept at work, yet another 



252 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

kind of production is required, muscular force. And I need not say that 
for these different kinds of production different kinds and aiLounts of 
fodder are requisite. 

In the light of modern experimental science the maintenance ot the 
animal and the production of meat, milk, heat, and force are not matter 
of so much hay, grain, and roots, but of the gluten, sugar, starch, fat, 
and so on, of which these are composed. 

It has been already explained that animal and vegetable substances 
are composed of water, organic matters, and ash. 

The following is, for instance, what is found in 100 pounds of wheat 
(grain) : 

Pounds. 
Water 13. 5 

Organic substances : 

Gluten, fibrin , &c. (containing nitrogen) 113. 2 

Starch f 1 59.5 



Sugar I containing > 2.4 

Gum and other extractive matter l no nitrogen. ] 4.7 

Fiber (cellulose) ■ I J 3.0 

Fatty matters (containing no nitrogen) 1. G 

Mineral matter (ash) 2.1 

Total 100.0 

Corn, hay, potatoes, in fact vegetables generally, contain nearly the 
same list of ingredients as wheat, but in different proportions. The 
same is true of animal foods. Meat and milk consist of similar ingre- 
dients. 

For our present purpose we have to consider only the organic substance. 
IS^ov: notice in the table above that there is a distinction between two 
classes of ingredients of this organic substance of wheat. The gluten 
and fibrin contain nitrogen, while the sugar, starch, fiber, fat, &c., con- 
tain no nitrogen. 

This distinction between the nitrogenous and non-nitrogenous food 
ingredients is a fundamental one in economical cattle feeding. 

Albumen, found pure in the white of an egg, is a representative of 
several kinds of substances, which consist chietly of carbon, oxygen, 
hydrogen, and nitrogen. To these nitrogenous materials we apply the 
general name, albuminoids. The albuminoids are found in all animals 
and plants. Muscle or lean meat, casein (curd) of milk, fibrin of blood, 
gluten, albumen, and fibrin of plants, are examples. Clover, beans, 
pease, oil-cake, are rich in albuminoids. 

Again, there are other animal and vegetable materials that consist 
of carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen, simply. These are called carbohy- 
drates and fats. Starch, sugar, gum, and cellulose or fiber are carbohy- 
drates. The oily and fatty matters of plants as well as butter, tallow, 
&c., are fats. Potatoes, sugar-beets, fodder-corn, and straw are rich in 
carbohydrates and poor in albuminoids. 

The distinctions between the ingredients of the animal tissues and 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 253 

products are similar. Lean meat or muscle and the casein (curd) of 
milk, like the albumen of the egg, are albuminoid substances and con- 
tain nitrogen. The fat of the body and the fat (butter) in the milk, like 
the oils and fats of plants, contain no nitrogen. 

The ingredients of the body are built up from those of the food. The 
nitrogenous materials, muscle, connective tissue, >skin, &c., are formed 
from albuminoids. The carbohydrates and fats of the food, which have 
no nitrogen, cannot be transformed into nitrogenous tissues of the body. 

To form the fats, both the fats and albuminoids of the food contribute. 
A large part of the fat meat stored in the body and of the butter given 
off with the milk is made and must be made of the albuminoids of the 
food. 

Just what work the carbohydrates do in the animal economy is not 
yet fully settled. They certainly cannot make flesh, and probably do 
but little at most to make fat. They act as fuel to keep up the animal 
heat, and doubtless contribute to the generation of muscular force. 
Just how much of the heat and force produced in the body comes from 
the consumption of albuminoids, how much from carbohydrates, and 
how much from fats is still an unsettled problem. 

The animal has been compared to a machine. It is, however, a 
machine that must be kept running whether it produces anything or 
not. A horse, or cow, or sheep needs food even at rest in the stall. 
The machine is peculiar also in that it is wearing out continually and 
very rapidly, and consumes its own material for both fuel and repairs. 
The tissues of the body are all the while being used up and rebuilt. 
In the process of using up, heat and force are produced. The animal 
consumes food to make its flesh and fat and to give it warmth and 
strength, but it gets warmth and strength from the consumption of its 
own flesh and fat at the same time. 

"Sow to make up for the continued wasting away of tissues and to 
maintain the supply of heat, food is necessary. But for this purpose 
but little of albuminoids is required. Carbohydrates will serve for 
fuel to keep the body warm. The horse or sheep at rest will get on 
with comparatively little nitrogen. Maintenance fodder may be poor 
in albuminoids if it furnish carbohydrates in plenty. Stock may be 
kept in the barn and even wintered on poor hay, cornstalks, and straw. 
But when i^roduction is required the case is very different. To make 
lean meat the animal must have albuminoids. Fat meat may be pro- 
duced from the fat of the food, if there be enough, but practically a 
large part of the fat must come from albuminoids. The casein and fat 
(butter) of the milk likewise come from the albuminoids of the food, 
and for work also more or less of albuminoids are used. The growing 
colt or lamb, the working horse or ox, the milch cow and the fattening 
sheep or swine or steer must all have rich food and food rich in nitro- 
gen. The nitrogenous ingredients, the albuminoids of the food, are 
its most important constituents. They may take the place of the carbo- 



254 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONEE OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

hydrates and fats to considerable extent, but their peculiar work must 
all be done by themselves. Such is the concurrent testimony of a vast 
amount of experimenting. 

Again, of the whole ration consumed only a portion is digested and 
used to supply the animal's wants ; the rest is voided as excrement, and 
valuable only for manure. It is important, then, that as much should 
be digested as possible. The value of the food will depend upon the 
amount the animal digests from it. 

Economy in feeding requires, then, that the greatest amount of food 
be digested, and that this digested material contain sufficient albumi- 
noids. 

An excessive proportion of albuminoids is, however, uneconomical. 
The albuminoids are the costliest parts of the foods. No more should 
be used than necessary. 

Proper proportions of digestible albuminoids, carbohydrates, and fats 
in the food are the chief requisites of economical feeding. 

Digestion of foods hy animals, as tested by Uurojiean experiments. 

316. The digestibility of different foods and food mixtures by dif- 
erent animals under varying circumstances has been tested by a very 
large number of experiments in the German experiment stations. The 
method consists in feeding animals with rations of known amount and 
composition, carefully collecting, weighing, and analyzing the excre- 
ments, the undigested portion, and subtracting the latter from the 
former. The following examples will serve for illustration : 

In the stables of the station at Weende, under the direction of Pro- 
fessor Henneberg, two full-grown oxen were fed during one jieriod of 
about two weeks with oat straw, daring another period with bean straw, 
a third with clover hay, a fourth with meadow hay, and so on. Duiing 
some of these periods a small amount of bean meal was added. The 
ration was at all times such as to keep the animals in fair and uniform 
condition. Careful weighings and analyses were made of fodder and 
excrement, that is to say, of the total and the undigested material, and 
from these the digestibility of the food was calculated. Por instance, 
in one of the experiments of this series the ox consumed daily 1G.9 
pounds of meadow hay, or what is called here "English grasses." 





Orfianio dry 
substance. 


Consisting of— 


There was contained iu— 


Albumin- 
oids. 


rrnde filipr Othercarbo- 




Lhs. 
14. 27 
C.33 


Lbs. 
2.12 

.77 


Lhs. Lhs. 
3. 80 C. 48 




1. C3 2. oe 








7.94 


1.35 


2. 17 4. 42 







HISTORY OF THE /MEKICAN MENHADEN. 



255 



In another experiment the daily ration consisted of 17.87 pounds of 
oat straw, and 1.82 pounds bean meal. 



There was contained in- 



17.87 pounds of oat-straw . 
Of this was digested 



Orgranic dry 
substance. 



Lis. 
14. -27 
7.10 



Consisting of- 



Albixrain- 
oids. 



Lhs. 
1.12 

.53 



Crude fiber. 



O'hercarbo- 
hydrates. 



Lhs. 
6.41 
3.64 



Lhs. 
6.74 

•2.88 



The first digestion experiments were made some twenty years ago by 
Henneberg and Stohman, in the experiment station at Weende in Han- 
over. Their example has been followed in other places. Four years ago 
the number of digestion experiments amounted to over one thousand, 
and they have been increasing rapidly in numbers every year since 
then. These experiments, each one of which has been conducted with 
an amount of labor and exactness never equaled by a single experi- 
ment in this country, have led to many very interesting and weighty 
results. 

What is essential to economy in feeding. — Albuminoids and carbohydrates. 

317. The following are among the most important for our present 
purpose: 

1st. Poor food.s, like marsh-hay, late-cut hay, straw, cornstalks, and 
chaff, contain good percentages of digestible material. Their low feeding- 
value is due, not to their lack of nutritive substance, but to its poverty 
in nitrogen. By adding to them concentrated foods rich in nitrogen, 
like oilcake, cotton-seed, bean and j)ea meal, or nitrogenous animal mat- 
ters, such as meat scrap and fish, rations are made equal in every respect 
to the best grass, young-cut hay, or grain. 

2d. The digestion of foods, particularly of mixed rations, depends 
upon the proportions of its constituents. With too little nitrogen the 
digestion is incomplete. Adding concentrated foods rich in nitrogen to 
coarse foods promotes digestion. Excess of carbohydrates decreases 
it. Oil-cake, meat scrap, or fish added to poor hay or straw secures 
the most complete digestion of the whole ration. But if potatoes or 
other starchy food are used in considerable quantity the less of the 
coarse food will be digested. 

There is still another principle of great imi3ortance to be noted. 
"Well-manured plants are much richer in albuminoids than poorly man- 
ured. Bountiful fertilizing not only increases the quantity of the crop 
but improves its quality also. 

The farmer who keeps his land in good condition gets larger yields j 
the produce contains more digestible substance for his stock, and the 
nutritive material is richer in the most valuable ingredients of all, the 
albuminoids. 



256 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 
Composition and valuations of various food materials. — German tables, 

318. Fuller details and tables illustrating the principles here presented, 
may be found in a series of articles on science applied to farming, in 
the "American Agriculturist" for 1874-'7G, and in a lecture on " The Re- 
sults of Late European Experiments on the Feeding of Cattle," in the 
report of the Connecticut Board of Agriculture for 1874. A briefer 
statement of the subject is given by Prof. S. W. Johnson in the report 
of the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station for 1877. This 
latter contains a table which is interesting as including, with German 
analyses and valuations, some analyses of American products: with the 
rest, two samples of fish-scrap. The table is explained by Professor 
Johnson as follows: 

" The following table of the composition, content of digestible nutri- 
tive ingredients, and money value of a few of the most important feed- 
ing-stuffs, is taken from the German of Dr. Emil Wolff, of the Agricul- 
tural Academy at Iloheuheim, and represents the most recent and most 
trustworthy knowledge on these subjects.* 

"The composition of feeding-stuffs, as here stated, is the average 
result of the numerous analyses that have been made within twenty-five 
years, mostly in the German experiment stations. 

"The quantities of digestible ingredients are partly derived from 
actual feeding experiments and are partly the result of calculation and 
comparison. 

" The percentages of the three classes of digestible matters, viz, al- 
buminoids, carbohydrates, and fat, form the basis for calculating the 
money value of feeding-t-tufls. The values attached to them by Dr. 
Wolff are the following, the German mark being considered as equal to 
24 cents, and the kilogram equal to 2.2 pounds avoirdupois : 

" 1 pound of digestible albuminoids is worth 4^ cents. 

" 1 pound of digestible fat is worth 4^ cents. 

" 1 pound of digestible carbohydrates is worth -f^ of a cent. 

"These figures express the present relative money values of the re- 
spective food-elements in the German markets. W^hether or not these 
values are absolutely those of our markets, they represent presumably 
the relative values of these elements approximately, and we may pro- 
visionally employ them for the purpose of comparing together our feed- 
ing-stuffs in respect to money value. These money or market values 
are to a degree independent of the feeding values. That is, if of two 
kinds of food, for example Hungarian hay and malt sprouts, the one 
sums up a value of $O.GG and the other a value of $1.31 per hundred, it 
does not follow that the latter is worth for all purposes of feeding twice 
as much as the former, but it is meant that when both are proper'y 
used, one is worth twice as much money as the other. In fertilizers we 
estimate the nitrogen of ammonia salts at 24 cents per pound, and solu- 

* From " Mcntzel u. Lengerlce's Kalciider," for 1878. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 



257 



b]e phosphoric acid at 12^ cents ; but this means simply that these are 
equitable market prices for these articles, not that nitrogen is worth 
twice as much as soluble phosphoric acid for making crops. In the 
future more exact valuations may be obtained from an extensive review 
of the resources of our markets, in connection with the results of analy- 
ses of the feed and fodder consumed on our farms. 

"The column headed ' Nutritive ratio ' in the table gives the propor- 
tion of digestible albuminoids to digestible carbohydrates, inclusive of 
fat.* * * * To allow of directly comparing the money value of feed- 
ing-stuff's with some universally accepted standard, the last column 
gives a comparison with good average meadow hay taken as 1." 

Average composiiion, digesHbility, and money value of feeding-stuffs, as given hy Dr. Wolff" 

for Germany for 1878. 

















Digestible mat- 




Money 
















ters. 




val 


ue. 










o 
o 


fl J 












m 






w 




_6 


*"* 


%! 


Feeding-stuffs. 






■4 




ci 




00 

■3 


"S 




^ 




a^ 








'o 








'o 


^ 




o 


^3 


5-a 








c 




>i 




3 


s^ 




_t; 




•K S 




o 


"S 


'g 
S 




.3 

O 




a 






'C 


|| 


s g 




^ 


< 


^ 


S 


3 


1 


^ 


3 


1 


3 

^ 


O 


° a 


Meadow hay, inferior 


14.3 
14.3 


5.0 
5.4 


7.5 
9.2 


33.5 
29.2 


38.2 
39.7 


1.5 

2.0 


3.4 
4.6 


34.9 
36.4 


0.5 
0.6 


10.6 
8.3 


0.48 
0.55 


0.74 


Meadow hay, better 


0.8R 


Meadow liay , average 


14.3 


(i. 2 


9.7 


26.3 


41.4 


2.5 


5.4 


41.0 


1.0 


8.0 


0.64 


1.00 


Meadow hay, very good 


15.0 


7.0 


11.7 


21.9 


41.6 


2.8 


7.4 


41.7 


1.3 


6.1 


0.74 


1.17 


Meadow hav, extra. -. 


10. 
10.0 


7.7 
."). 3 


13. 5 
12.3 


19.3 
^G.O 


40.4 
38.2 


3.0 

2.2 


9.2 
7.0 


42.8 
38.1 


1.5 
1.2 


5.1 
5.9 


0.84 
0.09 


1.32 


Clover hay, average 


1.08 


Clover hay, best .- 


10. 5 
14.3 


7.0 
4.5 


15.3 

9.7 


22.2 
22.7 


35.8 
45.8 


3.2 
3.0 


10.7 
5.8 


37.6 
43.4 


2.1 
1.4 


4.0 

8.1 


0.88 
0.69 


1.39 


Timothy hay 


1.09 


Hnngarian hay ....._....... 


13.4 
14.3 


5.7 
4.1 


10.8 
3.0 


29.4 
14.0 


38.5 
33.3 


2.2 
1.3 


6.1 
0.8 


41.0 
36.5 


0.9 
0.4 


7.1 

46.9 


0.06 
0.35 


1.04 


Eye straw 


0.55 


Oat straw 


14.3 


4.0 


4.0 


39. 5 


36.2 


2.0 


1.4 


40.1 


0.7 


29.9 


0.44 


0.69 


Kich pasture grass 


78.2 


2. 2 


4.5 


4.0 


10.1 


1.0 


3.4 


10.9 


0.6 


3.6 


0.27 


0.42 


Average meadow grass, fresh .. 


70.0 


■il 


3.4 


10.1 


13.4 


1.0 


1.9 


14.2 


0.5 


8.1 


0. 22 


.36 


Green maize, Gcriiian 


85.0 


1.0 


1.2 


4.7 


7.6 


0.5 


0.7 


7.4 


0.2 


11.3 


.10 


.16 


Green maize, Mr. Webb, 187-1 ... 


80.0 


0.8 


0.8 


4.8 


7.3 


0.3 


0.6 


8.3 


0.2 


14.4 


. 11 


.17 


Cured maize fodder, Mr. Webb . . 


27.3 


1.2 


4.4 


25. 


37.9 


1.3 


3.2 


43.4 


1.0 


14.4 


. 57 


.91 


Potatoes 


75.0 


0.9 


2.1 


1.1 


20.7 


0.2 


2.1 


21.8 


0.2 


10.6 


.2e 


.46 


Mangolds 


83.0 


0,8 


1.1 


0.9 


9.1 


0.1 


1.1 


10.0 


0.1 


9.3 


.14 


.22 


Eutabagas 


t<7.0 


1.0 


1.3 


1.1 


9.5 


0.1 


1.3 


10.6 


0.1 


8.3 


.15 


.24 


Sufrar beets 


81.5 


0.7 


1.0 


1.3 


15.4 


0.1 


1.0 


16.7 


0.1 


17.0 


.19 


.30 


Maize, German .... 


14.4 

IJ. 9 


1.5 
1.2 


10.0 

8.7 


5.5 

1.8 


62.1 
71.9 


6.5 
3.5 


8.4 
7.3 


60.6 
68.3 


4.8 
2.6 


8.6 
10.2 


1.10 
1.04 


1.73 


Maize meal, American, II 


1.69 


Oats 


14.3 


2.7 


12.0 


9.3 


55.7 


6.0 


9.0 


13.5 


4.7 


6.1 


.97 


1.53 


Male sprouts 


10.1 


7.2 


24.3 


14.3 


42.1 


2.1 


19.4 


45.0 


1.7 


2.5 


1.31 


2.06 


Wheat bran, coarse 


12. 9 
13.1 


6.0 

.-).4 


15.0 
14.0 


10.1 

8.7 


52.2 
55.0 


3.2 

3.8 


12.6 
11.8 


42.6 
14.3 


2 6 
3.0 


3.9 
4.4 


1.04 
1.03 


1.63 


Wheat brau, tine 


1.62 


Middlings 


11.5 


3.0 


13.9 


4.8 


63.5 


3.3 


10.8 


54.0 


2.9 


5.7 


1.07 


1.68 


Cotton-seed cake decorticated.. 


11.2 


7.0 


3::i. 8 


9.2 


19.5 


13.7 


31.0 


18.3 


12.3 


1.6 


2. 05 


3.22 


Fish-scrap, by Goodale's process - 


11.5 




01.0 






4.6 


57.6 




4.1 


0.2 


2.07 


4.17 


Fish-scrap^ dry ground 


11.7 




51.5 






8.1 


46.4 


'.'.'.'.'.'. 6.2 


0.3 


2.28 


3.56 


Dried blood 


12. 


4.') 


80.8 




"i'e 


0.5 


54.1 


2.6 


0.5 




2.39 


3.76 


Whey 


92.0 


0.7 


1.0 




5.1 


0.6 


1.0 


5.1 


0.6 


"h'K 


.11 


.18 


Milk 


87.5 


0.7 


3.2 





5.0 


3.6 


3.2 


5.0 


3.6 


4.4 


.34 


.53 



* Except those in italics, which are American products analyzed under direction of Professor Johnson. 

Comparing the poorer foods, such as straw, cornstalks, and inferior 
bay with a good standard food like the best hay or pasture grass, it ap- 
pears that the great difference is that the former lack albuminoids, just 
what bran, oil cake, cottouseed cake, and especially fish, supply. One 

* Fat aud carbohydrates have, it is believed, similar nutritive fuuctions, aud it is 
assumed that 1 part of fat equals 2.4 of carbohydrates. 
17 F 



258 EEPOET OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

hundred pounds of the fish scrap made by Goodale's process added to 900 
lbs. of the poorest hay would make a mixture equal in composition to 
1,000 pounds of the best hay. Three hundred pounds of the same fish-food 
with 1,700 lbs. of oat straw would be equal to a ton of the best hay. 

Tt is clear, then, that what our farming wants, to make stock-raising 
profitable, manure plenty and rich, and crops large and nutritious, is 
nitrogenous material for foods. 

One of the cheapest, most useful, and best forms in which this can be 
furnished is in fish products. In proof of this we have the testimony 
of both extensive experience and accurate experimenting. 

Experience in use of fish as food for stocTc. — Feeding cattle on fish in 

Massachusetts. 

319. The earliest account which I have met of fish as food for domestic 
animals is the following extract from the Barnstable [Mass.] "Journal," 
of February 7, 1833 : 

''^ Feeding cattle on fish. — The cattle at Provincetown feed upon fish with 
apparently as good relish as upon the best kinds of fodder. It is said 
that some cows, kept there several years, will, when grain and fish are 
placed before them at the same time, prefer the later, eating the whole 
of the fish before they touch the grain. Like one of old, we were rather 
incredulous on this subject, till we had the evidence of ocular demon- 
stration. We have seen the cows at that place boldly enter the surf, 
in pursuit of the offals thrown from the fish-boats on the shore, and when 
obtained, masticate and swallow every part except the hardest bones. 
A Provincetown cow will dissect the head of a cod with wonderful 
celerity. She places one foot upon a part of it, and with her teeth tears 
ofl the skin and gristly parts, and in a few moments nothing is left but 
the bones." 

The inhabitants of Provincetown are not the only people who feed 
their cattle upon fish. The nations of the Coromandel coast, as well as 
in the other parts of the East, practice feeding their flocks and herds 
^ith fish. The celebrated traveler, Ibu Batuta, who visited Zafar, the 
most easterly city in Yemen, in the early part of the fourteenth century, 
says that the inhabitants of that city carried on a great trade in horses 
in India, and at that period fed their flocks and herds with fish, a practice 
which he says he had nowhere else observed. 

Experiment of Mr. Lawes, in England, with fish as food for swine. 

320. In 1853 Mr. J. B. Lawes, of Rothamshead, England, reported 
several extensive series of experiments " On the Feeding of Pigs," in 
which were tested the effects of bean, lentil, Indian corn, and barley 
meals, bran, and dried Newfoundland codfish as foods for fattening and 
making manure. In speaking of the series in which the fish was fed 
with maize, barley, and bran in different proportions, Mr. Lawes says: 

" In the series * * * where we have * * * a comparatively 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 259 

small amount of nou-nitrogenous matter consumed, the food consisted 
in a large proportion of tbe bigbly nitrogenous codfish ; and in both of 
these cases we had not only a very good proportion of increase to food 
consumed, but the pigs in these pens were very fat and well ripened; 
and hence a large proportion of their increase would be real dry sub- 
stance. * * * This result is in itself interesting, and it may perhaps 
point to a comparatively greater efficiency in the already animalized 
proteine compounds supplied in the codfish than in those derived, as in 
the other cases, from the purely vegetable diets." * 

Otlier Uiiropean experience. 

321. In 1856 Professor Stoeckhardt, of Tharand, Saxony, who was one 
of the first chemists to recognize the value of fish guano, and has done 
more than any other one in Europe to encourage its manufacture and 
use, received a sample from Norway, which, as he says, "looked so in- 
viting that I tried it for fodder also." He fed it to a half year-old pig, 
which "did exceptionally well on this northern food." 

In the northern part of Norway, when during the long winters the 
supply of hay and straw gives out, cattle are fed upon dried fish. They 
do poorly on this diet alone, of course, but recover very quickly when 
the spring pasturage comes.* 

Success of Maine farmers in feeding fish to sheep. 

322. The value of fish as food for domestic animals bas been attested 
by experience of intelligent farmers in our own country, as is illustrated 
by the following extracts from Boardman and Atkins' report, from which 
so many quotations have already been made : 

"As early as 1864, if not in fact previous to that date, the attention of 
members of the board of agriculture [of Maine], and farmers generally, 
was called to tbe matter of the value of fish pomace or scrap as a feed- 
ing stuff for sheep, swine, and poultry. In a communication to the 
board| Mr. William D. Dana, of Perry, spoke in high terms of its value 
as a feed for domestic animals, in which he said : 'Fish pomace, or tbe 
residuum of herring after the oil is pressed out, is greedily eaten by 
sheep, swine, and fowl ; and probably pogy chum would be eaten as 
well. Smoked alewives and frost fish also furnish a food palatable to 
cattle. Sheep thrive well, get fat, and yield heavier fleeces when fed on 
tbis pomace than when fed on anything else produced in tbis section of 
the State. Careful and observing farmers, who have fed it, assert that 
it is of equal value with good hay, ton per ton, and that its value for 
manure is in no degree diminished by passing i*^ through the living mill, 
and thus reducing it to a much more convenient state for applying. It 
it could be sufficiently dried, without other substances, to prevent putre- 

* Jour. Roy. Ag. Soc, Ist Ser. XIV, 1853, p. 527. 

t Meinert. Travels ia Norway. Chem. Ack., 1870, xi, p. 45. 

t Agriculture of Maine, 1864, p. 43. 



260 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

faction, it would form a valuable article of cattle-feed in regions from 
which it is now excluded by the expense of transportation and its own 
odoriferous nature.' 

" In remarking upon this the secretary of the board said that if sheep 
would eat the scrap readily, much poor hay or straw could be used to 
good advantage, thus allowing the farmer to consume all his first-quality 
hay in keeping other stock. He thought the meat would not taste of 
the flavor imparted by the scrap, provided other food was substituted 
for a proper length of time before slaughtering. 

"From time to time following this, the matter was discussed before 
the board, and formed the subject of many articles in the agricultural 
journals. In 18G9, Mr. M. L. Wilder,* of Pembroke, then a member of 
the board, presented a brief i^aper embodying his experience in the use 
of scrap as a feed for sheep, in which he said he believed 'fish oft'al to 
be not only cheaper, but much superior to imy other kind of provender 
he had ever used ' for this purpose. An extract from his paper is given : 
' I keep about one hundred sheep, and have fed fish otfal to them for 
the past ten years. The offal is made from herring caught in weirs, 
salted the same as for smoking, cooked, and the oil pressed out, leaving 
a pomace for which the sheep are more eager than for grain. For the 
last three winters I have kept my sheep on threshed straw with one- 
half pound per day to each sheep of dried fish j)omace, or one pound of 
green (as it shrinks one-half in drying), and they came out in the spring 
in much better condition than when fed on good English hay with corn. 
I consider the dry pomace worth as much as corn, pound for pound. 
When I have had enough to give them one-half pound per day, I have 
found that the weight of the fleece was increased one-quarter, and not 
only that but also the carcass in a like proportion ; the weight of the 
fleeces per head averaging from five to seven pounds.' 

"Similar statements to the above were made by Hon. Samuel Wassont 
and other gentlemen, not only at public meetings of the board, but 
through the press, so that the subject has been kept alive and invested 
with some interest down to the present time. 

Experiments of Professor Farrington on fish scrap vs. corn meal as food 

for sheep. 

" 323. Wishing to test the value of scrap as a feed with more care than 
had apparently attended any of the trials that had been reported, and 
also wishing to make a sort of competitive trial of it in connection with 
corn, a quantity was obtained for this purpose of Mr. M. L. Wilder, of 
Pembroke. It was herring scrap, salted before the oil was expressed, 
and packed in barrels directly from the press, each barrel containing 
about 220 pounds. Its cost in Augusta, including freight from Pem- 
broke via Portland, was not far from $2 per barrel. 

^Agriculture of Maine, 1869, p. 60. 
t Agriculture of Maine, 1874-'75, p. 1. 



I 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 



261 



" This scrap was placed in the hands of Mr. J. R. Farrington, the in- 
structor in agriculture at the State College, Orono, with the request 
that he would feed it to sheep in connection with Indian corn in such 
way as would best serve the purpose of ascertaining its comparative 
value as a provender or feed. Few instructions were given him, and he 
being left to carry out the experiment in his own way — and public ac- 
knowledgment should here be made for his interest in undertaking the 
matter, and for the care and faithfulness with which the experiment 
was conducted. The report of Mr. Farrington follows : 

'"The statement made by a prominent agriculturist that for feeding 
sheep fish chum was equal to corn, pound for pound, furnished the 
basis for the experiment which we conducted to ascertain the compara- 
tive value of corn and fish chum when led to sheep. Ten lauibs, dropped 
the previous spring, were selected ; each one was designated by a num- 
ber, the uaraber being stamped on a metallic tag and attached by a 
copper wire to the ear of the lamb ; Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 constituted 
flock 1; Nos. 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10, flock 2. We began feeding January 15, 
1875. Flock No. 1 was fed with corn ; flock No. 2 was fed with fish. 
Each flock wos given what good hay it would eat. The hay fed to each 
flock during the month (four weeks) beginning February 13 was weighed. 
Flock No. 1 ate, in four weeks, 335 pounds ; flock No. 2 ate 338 pounds. 

'"At commencement of feeding, January 15, 1875: 



Flock No. 1 weighed as follows : 

Sheep No. 1 weighed 46 lbs. 

2 " 77 ■' 

3 " 67 " 

4 " 55 " 

5 " 68 " 

Weight of flock, Jan. 15 313 " 

Dnr'iDg lour weeks ending February 13, l^J pounds 
of corn were fed to flock No. 1. At this date — 

Sheep No. 1 weighed. . 50 lbs., a gaiu of 4 lbs. 

•' 2 " 61J " 41 " 

3 '• 73 " 6 " 

4 " 59 " 4 " 

5 " 77 " 9 " 



"Weight, February 13 340i 



27i 



During four weeks ending March 12, 20 pounds of 
corn aud 3:i5 pound.s of hay were fed flock No. 1. 
At this date — 



Sheep No. 1 weighed 

2 " 

3 " 

4 " 

5 " 



aOh lbs., a gaiu of | lbs. 
7i| lbs., a loss of 6 " 

69 " 4 " 
56J " 2i " 

70 " 7' " 

19 " 



Flock No. 2 weighed as follows: 

Sheep No. 6 weighed 49 Iba. 

7 " 74 " 

8 " 68i " 

9 " 67 " 

" 10 " 58 '■ 

Weight of flock, Jan. 15 31GJ '• 

During four weeks ending February 13. 18J pounds 

of fish were fed to flock No. 2. At this date — 
Sheep No. 6 weighed 52 lbs., a gain of 3 lbs. 

7 " 81 " 7 '■ 

8 " 72* " 4 ■• 

9 " 68" " 1 " 

" 10 " 04^ ♦' 6i " 

Weight, February 13.... 338 " 21^ " 

During four weeks ending March 12 20 pounds of 
fish and 338 lbs. of hay were fed flock No. 2. At 
this date — 

Sheep No. 6 weighed 55J lbs., a gaiu of 31 lbs. 

7 " 79 lbs., a loss of 2 ' = 

8 " 714 " 1 •' 

9 " 67-i " h " 

" 10 " 63 " U " 



Weightofflock 321^ " 19 " Weightof flock 336J " IJ" 

During the above four weeks the corn-fed fiock^ weighing 340J pounds, 
ate 335 pounds of hay aud lost 19 pounds in weight. The flock eating 
fish, weighing 338 pounds, ate 338 pounds hay and lost IJ pounds. 



During four weeks ending April 9, 19 pounds corn 

were fed flock No. 1. At this date — 
Sheep No. 1 weighed 51 lbs., a gain of J lbs. 

2 " 76J " 1 " 

3 " 75.'> " 6J " 

4 " 6-l| " 8 " 

5 " 78i " 8i " 



Weightofflock 346 



24i 



During four weeks ending April 9, 19 pounds of 

fish were fed flock No. 2. At this date — 

Sheep No. 6 weighed 62 lbs., a gain of 6 J lbs. 

7 " 84 " 5 " 

8 " 75 " 3A " 

9 " 71 " 3i " 

" 10 " 65 " 2 " 



Weightofflock 357 



20J 



262 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



Dnrinci four weeks ending May 7, 15 pounds of corn 
were fed flock No. 1. At this date — 

Sheep No. 1 weighed 55 lbs., a gain of 4 lbs. 

2 " 79 ;' 2J " 

,3 " 80 " 4i " 

" 4 " 65 " i " 

5 " 82 " 3J " 

Weightof flock .361 " 15 " Weightofflock 364 

Becapitulation. — Duriug the sixteen weeks of the experiment — 



During four weeks ending May 7, 15 pounds of fish 

were fed flock No. 2. At this date — 
Sheep No. 6 weighed 6-2 lbs., a gain of lbs. 

7 " 87 

8 " 75 

9 " 73 

" 10 " 67 



Sheep No. 1 gained 9 lbs. 

2 " 2 " 

3 " 13 " 

4 " 10 " 

5 " 14 " 

Flock No. 1 gained 48 " 

Fed with corn — wcigliing, January 15, 313 pounds. 
Gained 48 pounds, or 15i per cent. 



Sheep No. 6 gained 13 lbs. 

7 " 13 " 

8 " 6J " 

9 " 6 " 

" 10 " 6 " 

Flock No. 2 gained 47J " 

On fish — weighing, .Tanuary 15, 316J pounds. 
Gained 47 J pounds, or I5jl^ per cent. 



Tbat is to say, the corn-fed flocli gained 48 pounds, and the fisb-fed 
flock 47^ pounds during the sixteen weeks of the experiment. 

Professor Farrington has courteously favored me with some further, 
but as yet unpublished, details of his experiments. The tish scrap 
from herring was unground and some of the fragments were rather 
coarse. It was hard to get the sheep to eat much of the fish, though 
they gradually learned to like it better. This accounts for the very 
small quantity consumed. 

A second trial similar to the above was made the succeeding winter, 
and with like results, except that the sheep ate rather more of the fish. 
In one case a flock of four consumed 28 pounds in four weeks, which is 
equivalent to 4 ounces per head per day, while in the above series they 
averaged only about 2 ounces per head per day. The meal was regu- 
lated by the amount of fish consumed. The quantities of both were 
thus extremely small. It is to be noted, however, that the sheep had " all 
the good hay they would eat." The fish was distasteful, and they took 
very little. If they had received a fixed quantity of staw, cornstalks, 
or poor hay, instead of good hay ad libitum, they could doubtless have 
been got to eat more fish, and would probably have learned to like it. 

Mr. Wilder, of Pembroke, whose statements were quoted above, and 
who furnished the scrap for Professor Farrington's experiments, " keeps 
about one hundred sheep * * * on threshed straw with one-half 
Ijound per day to each sheep of dried fish pomace * *, for which 
the sheep are more eager than they are for grain * * *^ and they 
come out in the spring much better than when fed on good English hay 
with corn." 

Professor Farrington agrees with me in the opinion, indeed the experi- 
ence of farmers who have fed fish successfully leaves room for no other, 
and the European experimenters quoted below say the same thing, that 
sheep, swine, and probabl^^ neat cattle, can be taught to eat fish, and 
when once wonted to it will take it with excellent relish. 

A dry, well-prepared, and finely-ground product, such as may be 
made by the Goodale or other processes, would doubtless keep better, 
be more free from oflVnsive odor and taste, and worth much more for 
feeding than the ordinary scrap. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 



263 



Eurojyean experiments on digestion and nutritive value offish, meat-scrap, etc. 

324. The need and value of iiitiogenous foods for food mixtures, ex- 
plained and attested by science and confirmed by experience in Europe, 
has led to diligent seeking, careful trial, and rational use of available 
foods from every source. Of late a great deal of attention has been paid to 
animal products. The flesh meal left from the preparation of "Liebig's 
Meat Extract "in South America, the dried blood of slaughter-houses, 
and fish guano have all been tested and found extremely valuable. 

The scope of the present article precludes details of the experiments 
on the digestil)ility and nutritive value of animal foods for stock ; 1 
therefore reserve them for a future occasion, and note briefly here 
some of the main results. 

The following are among the experiments of this sort reported in the 
years 187G and 1877. The original accounts are in " Die landwirth- 
schaftlicbeu Versuchs-Stationen," the " Journal llir Landwirthschaft," 
and the " Landwirthschaftliche Jahrbiicher'' for those years: 



Experimenters. 



I. Wolflf, and nssociates 

II. Wold, and associates 

III. Wildt 

IV. Wildt 

V. TVei.^ke, and associates . . . 
VI. Kellner, and associates . . . 



Experiment 
statious. 



Hobenheim . 

...do 

KiLScben — 

..do 

Proskau ... 
Holienbeim . 



Animals. 



Swine.. 
.. do .. 
Sheep. - 
Swine . 
Sh(;op . 
...do ... 



Food. 



South American flesh meal and potatoes. 

Fle-ib meal, pea meal, potatoes, ;:du starch. 

Blood meal, flenh meal, and barley straw. 

Blood meal, pease, and potatoes. 

Fish guano. 

Flsli guauo, Lucern hay, and oatmeal. 



The general plan of each of these experiments was to feed the animals 
during difierent periods of two or three weeks each with diflerent foods 
and mixtures, and to note, by careful weighings and analyses of foods and 
excrements, the amounts digested. The most prominent of the questions 
has been the comparative digestibility and nutritive value of vegetable 
and animal albuminoids. As a general result the albuminoids and fats 
of meat, blood, and fish are found to be as digestible or more so than 
those of the most concentrated vegetable foods. 

In I, Wolff found swine to digest from albuminoids 92 parts and fats 
97 parts out of every 100 parts of each in the flesh meal, and concludes 
that flesh meal is an easily digested and intensely nutritious food. 

In II, Wolfl:" found tbat the albuminoids in pease and fleshmeal had 
essentially tbe same effect. 

From III, Wildt found some difDculty in getting sheep to eat the 
blood and flesh. He says that potatoes and roots will help to make the 
flesh and blood palatable, and thinks that these may be used with profit 
to sni)ply albuminoids to herbivorous animals. 

From IV, Wildt concludes that animal albuminoids may serve just as 
well as vegetable for supplying nitrogen to foods poor in albuminoids. 

From V and VI, Weiske and Kellner conclude that fish guano, like 
meat and blood, may be fed with profit to herbivorous animals. In Kell- 
ner's ex|)eriment two two-year old wethers were fed during the first period 
with Lucern hay. During the second part the hay was replaced by 



264 KEPOET OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

oatmeal, and during the third Norwegian fish guano was added to tho 
ration of the second period. At first the animals did not like the fish, but 
on mixing it well with the oatmeal they accepted it more readily. At 
the close of the experiment they had got to liking the guano so much as 
to eat it greedily with no admixture of other foods. They digested on 
average of two experiments 90 per cent, of the albuminoids and 70 per 
cent, of the fat of the guano. Concerning the nitrogenous matter of the 
bone, Kellner made the same observation as has been previously noted, 
namely, that it was quite rapidly digestible. It is particularly worthy 
of remark that the Norwegian fish guano which was used in this experi- 
ment had 9.44 per cent, nitrogen and no less than 15.77 per cent, phos- 
phoric acid, and only 2.11 per cent. fat. That is, it had more bone than 
our fish guano. Tliis is because it is made not of the whole tish, but of 
the refuse heads, entrails, and bones. The most of the fat had been 
removed by tlie steaming process used in preparation of the guano. 

General conclusions concerning Jisli as food for domestic animals. 

325. On the whole, then, these experiments bear unanimous and con- 
vincing testimony in favor of the easy digestibility and high nutritive 
value of animal foods in general and of fish guano in particular when fed 
to sheep and swine. 

How far they could be made jirofitable for other herbivorous animals 
than sheep has not yet been tested. In the nature of the case there is 
no reason why they should not be as nutritious for neat cattle as for 
sheep. As Voit has justly observed, all mammals are at one period of 
their lives, when living upon milk, carnivorous. Late investigations have 
shown very clearly that even plants are j)ositively nourished by animal 
foods. The very interesting experiments of Mr. Francis Darwin with 
the round-leaved sundew demonstrate conclusively that plants may 
thrive on a meat diet. 

In short, we have every reason, from practical experience, from actual 
experiment, and from what we know of the nature of the case, to believe 
that the immense amount of animal waste produced in this country from 
our slaughter-houses, and especially from our fisheries, can be utilized 
with the greatest ease and profit to supply the most pressing need of a 
most important part of our agriculture, nitrogenous food for stock. 

AVe have seen that farmers in New England and in Europe have 
found fish good for their stock, that occasionally one like Mr. Wilder 
has hit upon a rational way of using it to i)iece out aud improve the 
poorer products of their farms, and that patient research has exi)lained 
why it is useful and how it may be made more so. This is one of the 
countless cases where practical men have worked their way in the dark 
by the tortuous path of experience to the same results to which scientific 
investigation leads. But here as ever the results when found need the 
light of science to explain the facts and make it possible to apply theui 
most profitably. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 265 

53. Summary. 

Fish as manure. 

326. The following is a brief rexjapitulatiou of the main points urged in 
this article : 

1. The value of fish as manure is due maiuly to its nitrogen and phos- 
phoric acid. 

2. Taking into account composition, quality, and price, fish manures 
furnish these ingredients more cheaply than any other class of fertilizers 
in the market except Peruvian guanos. 

3. The crops most benefited by fish manures are those which need 
considerable nitrogen and phosphoric acid, but are not especially helped 
by mineral manures alone. Such are grass, grain, and corn. The same 
is generally true of potatoes and garden vegetables, and sometimes of 
roots. Leguminous crops, like clover, beans, and pease, are more bene, 
fited by mineral manures, and get little good from the nitrogen of the 
fish. 

4. Fish manures are quick and stimulating in their action. Their force 
is soon spent and they often leave the soil in worse condition than be- 
fore they were applied. This is, however, no argument against their 
value. The remedy for such cases is to apply other materials, as ashes, 
lime, potash salts, dung, muck, etc., with them. 

5. The proper soils for fish manures are those which are deficient in 
nitrogen and phosphoric acid, and in which the stimulating effect of the 
decomposition of fish may render other materials available for plant 
food. Soils that have been treated repeatedly with fish, guano, phos- 
phates, and bone are often overstocked with these ingredients and 
deficient in potash. Many soils are originally poor in potash. To apply 
fish on such soils and omit the lacking elements is to lose both fertilizer 
and crop. The deficiencies of a given soil are best told by actual trial, 
with different manures and crops. 

6. The general usetuluess of fish manures will be increased by adding 
to them phosphoric acid, in the form of bone or superphosphates, and 
potash in German potash salts. Fine steamed bone, that can be bought 
for $32 to $45 per ton, or "plain" superphosphates, made from South 
Carolina or Canada phosphates, and sold at $30 to $32 per ton, are 
economical sources of phosphoric acid. The " 50 per cent, muriate," 
sold at about $40 per ton, is one of the cheapest grades of potash 
salts. Of the " ammoniated" superphosphates, a very few of the best 
brands are sold at cheaper rates than it would cost the farmer to make 
them. But instead of buying medium and inferior articles, farmers will 
do better to buy the materials and mix them at home. 

7. The best form of fish manures is the dry-ground fish guano freed from 
oil. The water and oil add weight and bulk without increasing value. 
The coarse fish-scrap cannot be thoroughly spread, is not easily diffused 
by the water in the soil, is reached by few roots, and becomes slowly 



266 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

available to the roots that find it. But the fine dry fish is easily spread, 
is diffused by rain, is thus made accessible to a large number of roots, 
aud cau be absorbed by them when they reach it. 

8. The ingredients of fish may be made more available for plant-food, 
and their value for manure increased by — 

a. Fermentation with urine. 

h. Composting with muck, earth, ashes, lime, bone, potash salts, and 
farm refuse of all sorts. 

c. Feeding to stock, thus putting it through a process similar to that 
by which Peruvian guano has been formed. In this way it can be used 
to enrich the manure made on the farm, and thus made one of the best 
aids to successful farming. 

Fish as food for stock. 

9. The chief defect of our fodder materials as a whole is their lack of 
nitrogen. From poor manuring our crops are not only small in quantity, 
but poor in quality. They lack nitrogen. This is true of our forage 
crops in general, and of poor hay, straw, and corn-stalks in particular. 
What our farming most wants, to make stock-feeding profitable, manure 
plenty and rich, and crops large and nutritious, is nitrogen. 

10. One of the cheapest, most useful, and best forms in which this 
can be furnished is in fish products. These have been found very 
profitable for feeding in Europe. Our fish guanos are better than the 
European for this purpose, because they have more flesh and less bone. 

The loss to our agriculture from waste of fish. — The evil. 

11. Millions of pounds of fish not fit for human food are allowed every 
year to escape from nets into the sea, which, if saved and rightly uti- 
lized, would be worth untold sums for fertilizers and leediug materials. 

12. Of the fish saved and used for fertilizers, a large portion is ill- 
prepared. 

13. A large part of that which is well made is exported to Europe, 
where its value is better understood, and its use is more rational and 
profitable. 

14. A great deal of the fish manure that gets into farmers' hands, bo 
it well or ill prepared, is wasted by wrong application, and by use where 
it does not fit the needs of crop and soil. 

15. A still greater loss comes from the neglect to use fish as food for 
domestic animals. 

10. The total loss to our agriculture from all these sources is not 
capable of accurate computation, but amounts certainly to hundreds of 
thousands, and doubtless millions of dollars annually. 

The remedy. 

17. As the main source of the evil is ignorance, the chief reliance for 
cure must be in better understanding of the facts and the ways to im- 
prove. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 267 

18. The needed knowledge can be gained from two sources. The re- 
sults of European experience and experimenting will be one ; experi- 
ments and investigations of our own products in our own laboratories, 
fields, and stables, another. The knowledge once obtained and set forth 
in detailed reports will, in the natural course of things, be condensed 
and diffused through the agricultural press, and applied by manufac- 
turers and farmers, to the great benefit of all. 

19. The compilation of results of foreign work can be made by refer- 
ence to the numerous German, French, and English scientific and agri- 
cultural journals through which the original memoirs are scattered. 

20. The investigations would be properly divided into those on fish 
as manure and those on fish as food for animals. 

21. The experiments on fish as manures would probably be made — 

1. In the laboratory, and consist of: a, analyses offish products; 
b, investigations on their changes in composition and action in 
the soil. 

2. In the field, and consist of rationally planned and carefully 
conducted trials with different fertilizing materials, including 
fish manures, on different soils and with different crops, in order 
to obtain specific answers to specific questions whose solution 
is important. 

22. The experiments on fish as food for stock should be made — 

1. On farms, by feeding out fish with ordinary foods in simple 
ways, as was done by Professor Farrington at uhe Maine State 
College. 

2. In stables fitted up for trials with simultaneous laboratory 
work, on the plan of the European experiments, above described. 
The object of these trials would be to determine the digestibility 
and nutritive effect of the materials employed. 

The urgent need ofi)opular instruction. 

327. Here is a case where men with the best intentions in the world, 
fishermen, manufacturers, and farmers, are suffering the waste of thou- 
sands, and even millions of dollars' worth of material, bitterly needed to 
supply the wants of worn-out soils and make bread and meat for hungry 
men. The first step toward stopping this must be the getting of in- 
formation. In Europe, governments, agricultural schools, societies, and 
experiment stations would, in fact do, grapple the questions, and with the 
best talent, aided by the best appliances that ingenuity, enthusiasm, 
and money can procure, work at them until they are solved. But here, 
we shall not get the needed knowledge until some educational in- 
stitution, experiment station, or other agency, takes hold of the work 
with a will and put it through. 



288 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OP FISH AND FISHERIES. 

APPENDIX A. 

CIRCULAR RELATING TO "STATISTICS OF THE MENHADEN FISHERY." 



Office United States Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries, 

Washington, D. C. 

Among the most important of the marine fishes of the coast of the 
United States is the species known as the Mossbunker about Long Island 
and New Jersey ; bony-fish and menhaden on the south coast of New 
England; and pogy (not porgy) on the eastern coast; elsewhere as the 
bug fish, yellow-tail, »&c., and by naturalists as Brevoortia menhaden. 
Generally considered unfit for food, it is principally captured for bait or 
for its oil, and for the scrap or reluse left after the oil is squeezed out 
by means of the hydraulic press. 

It is considered very desirable to obtnin as full an account as possi- 
ble of the habits, migrations, &c., of this fish, as well as complete sta- 
tistics of its capture and uses. I therefore beg leave to call attention 
to the following queries, and to request ansvs'ers to as many as practi- 
cable. It is not necessary to repeat the queries, a reference to the num- 
ber affixed to the question being sufiBoient. Replies should be made oh 
foolscap paper, if equally convenient, and written on one side only of 
the page. 

The information thus obtained will be embodied in a report to Con- 
gress, in which full credit will be given to all contributors. 

SPENCER F. BAIRD, 

Commissioner. 

Smithsonian Institution, December 20, 1873. 



A. — Name. 

1. By what name is this species known in your vicinity? 

B. — Abundance. 

2. How does this fish compare in abundance with others found in 
your vicinity? 

3. Has it diminished or increased in numbers within the last ten 
years ? 

4. What was the number of barrels taken in 1873 by any or all estab- 
lishments in your vicinity— naming them, if i)ossiblef Give the same 
facts for any other year. 

5. Does the extensive capture affect their abundance "? 

C. — Migration and movements. 

G. "When are the fish first seen or known to come near the coast, and 
when does the main body arrive; are the first the largest; are there 
more schools or runs than one coming in, and at what intervals? 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 269 

7. Do the schools offish swim high or low, and is their arrival known 
otherwise than by their capture — that is, do they make a ripple on the 
water ; do they attract birds, &c. ? 

8. By what route do these fish come in to the coast, and what the sub- 
sequent movements ? 

9. Is the appearance of the fish on the coast regular and certain, or 
do they ever fail for one or more seasons at a time, and then return in 
greater abundance ; if so, to what cause is this assigned ? 

10. Does the use of nets, seines, &c., used in catching them, tend to 
scare them farther from the shore, their usual feediug grounds? 

11. What is the relation of their movements to the ebb and flow of 
the tide ! 

12. What are the favorite localities of these fish ? 

13. What depth of water is preferred by these fish, and how low do 
they swim ? 

14. Does the temperature of the water appear to aflfect them ? 

15. Do these fish come on to the breeding grounds before they are 
mature, and do you find the one or two year old fish with the oldest ? 

16. Are young fish ever seen on the coast ; if so, when, and of what 
size? 

17. When do the fish leave the coast, and is this done by degrees or 
in a body ? 

18. By what route do they leave the coast ? 

19. Where do they spend the winter season ? 

D.— Food. 

20. What is the nature of their food 1 

E. — Eeproduction. 

21. Where do these fish spawn and when ? 

22. Can you give any account of the process, whether males and 
females go in pairs, or one female and two males; whether the sexes 
are mixed indiscriminately, etc. ? 

23. Is the water whitened or colored by the milt of the males ? 

24. What temperature of water is most favorable for spawning ? 

25. At what depth of water are the eggs laid, if on or near the bot- 
tom ? 

26. Do the eggs, when spawned, sink to the bottom and become at- 
tached to stones, grass, &c., or do they float in the water until hatched ? 

27. When are the eggs hatched, and in what period of time after being 
laid? 

28. Are the young of this fish found in abundance and in what locali- 
ties? 

29. Is the spawn ever found to run from the fish when handled after 
capture ? '■ 



270 EEPOKT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES, 
r. — ENlftllES AND FATALITIES. 

30. What enemies interfere with or destroy the spawn or the young 
fish ; do the parent fish devour them ? 

31. Are crabs, worms, lampreys, or other living animals found attached 
to the outside, or on the gills, or in the mouth, especially the roof of the 
mouth I 

32. To what extent do they suffer from the attacks of other fish or 
other animals — as sharks, blue-fish, porpoises, &c. "? 

33. Has any epidemic or other disease ever been noticed among them, 
such as to cause their sickness or death in greater or less numbers ? 

G. — Capture. 

34. What kind of nets are used in the capture of this fish ? 

35. What are the dimensions (length and depth) of the nets used 1 

36. What kind of vessels are employed and what is the tonnage ? 

37. Wbat is the number of men required for the management of ves- 
sel and nets ? 

38. Wbat part of each day is employed in fishing 1 

39. Are the fish taken more on one tide than another ? 

40. Does the wind have an effect on them ? 

41. Wbat is the number of vessels employed in your vicinity and what 
is the aggregate number of their crews ? 

H. — Economical value and application. 

42. What disposition is made of the fish caught ; whether used on 
the spot or sent elsewhere ; and, if so, where 1 

43. What oil factories are there in your neighborhood and by whom 
owned ! 

44. What is the gross quantity of oil manufactured in a year at each 
factory ? 

45. What is the productive cai)acity for oil-mauufacture of each fac- 
tory in each year ? 

46. What is the description and cost of machinery used in trying-out 
oil in each factory ? 

47. What prices were paid per barrel for fish in 1873 and what in 
previous years ? 

48. What is the average quantity of fish required to produce a gallon 
of oil ? 

49. Wbat quantity of oil can be obtained from one ton of scrap ? 

50. What is the least amount of oil per barrel of fish and when is it 
least ? 

51. Wbat is the greatest amount of oil per barrel and when is it 
greatest ? 

52. Do the Northern fish yield more than Southern ? 

53. What is the history of the oil- manufacture on this coast? 



HISTOEY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 271 

54. Where is the priucipal market for the oil? 

55. Where is the principal market for the scrap ? 

56. What use is made of the oil? 

57. What is the rauge of prices paid for the oil iu 1873 and what in 
previous years ! 

58. Is it probable that the catch of fish (menhaden), however i^rac- 
ticed, tends to diminish them ? 

59. Name of correspondent. 

60. Eesidence. 

61. Date of communication. 



APPENDIX B. 

LIST OF COEEESPONDENTS FROM WHOM CONTRIBUTIONS HAVE BEEN 

RECEIVED. 

r. 

Contributions have been received from the following persons : 
J. Matthew Jones, esq., F. L. S., Halifax, N. S. 
William H. Sargent, collector of customs, ^astiue, Me. 
Eobert A. Friend, oil manufacturer, Brookliu, Me. 
J. C. Condon, oil manufacturer, Belfast, Me. 
Charles G. Atkins, Bucksport, Me. 

Marshall Davis, deputy collector of customs, Belfast, Me. 
John Grant, keeper of Matinicus Rock Light Station, Me. 
Mrs. B, Humphrey, keeper of Manhegin Island Light-House, Me. 
Alden H. Jordan, keeper of Baker's Island Light-House, Me. 
William S. Sartell, keeper of Pemaquid Light Station, Me. 
James A. Hall, collector of customs, Waldoborough, Me. 
Benjamin F. Brightman, Round Pond, Me. 
Luther Maddocks, oil manufacturer, Boothbay, Me., secretary Maine 

Menhaden Oil and Guano Association. 
G. B. Kenuiston, oil manufacturer, Boothbay, Me. 
Thomas Day, keeper of Seguiu Light, Parker's Head, Me. 
J. Washburne, jr., collector of customs, Portland, Me. 
Hon. S. L. Goodale, Saco, Me. 

Washington Oliver, keeper of Pond Island Light, Me. 
Chandler Martin, keeper of Whale's Back Light, N. H. 
Judson Tarr & Co., oil manufacturers, Rockport, Mass. 
F. J. Babson, collector of customs, Gloucester, Mass. 
Cyrus Story, Gloucester, Mass. 
Capt. Robert H. Hurlbut, Gloucester, Mass. 
Unknown contributor, Gloucester, Mass. 
Simeon Dodge, collector of customs, Marblehead, Mass. 
Eben B. Phillips, oil dealer, Boston, Mass. 
W. Stowe, American Net and Twine Company, Boston, Mass. 



272 KEPOKT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

William Atwood, keeper of Dusbury Pier Light-House, Plymouth, Mass. 

Thomas Loring, collector of customs, Plymouth, Mass. 

Heman S. Dill, keeper of Billingsgate Island Light- House, Wellfleet, 
Mass. 

David F. Loring, keeper Highland Light-Station, >Iorth Truro, Mass. 

Capt. N. E. Atwood, Proviucetowu, Mass. 

Capt. Josiah Hardy, 2d, keeper of Chatham Light-House, Mass. 

Philip Smith, North Eastham, Mass. 

William S. Allen, keeper, Great Point Light, Nantucket, Mass. 

Eeuben C. Kenney, Nantucket, Mass. 

T. C. Defriez, collector of customs, Nantucket, Mass. 

Alonzo F. Lothrop, keeper of Hyannus Light-House, Mass. 

C. B. Marchant, collector of customs, Edgartown, Mass. 

Jason Luce & Co., pound fishermen, North Tisbnry, Mass. 

Capt. J. B. Edwards, Light-House Buoy Station, Wood's Holl, Mass. 

E. F. Crowell, Wood's Hole, Mass. 

Capt. Thomas Hinckley, jr., Wood's Holl, Mass. 

Prof. C. A. Goessmaun, Amherst, Mass. 

Daniel T. Church, oil manufacturer, Tiverton, E. L 

Joseph Whaley, keeper of Point Judith Light, R. L 

E. T, De Blois, Portsmouth, E. I. 

H. O. Ball, New Shoreham, E. L 

Joshua T. Dodge, Block Island, E. L 

Henry W. Clark, keeper of South Bast Light-House, Block Island, R. I. 

Capt. Jared S. Crandall, keeper of Watch Hill Light, E I. 

Gallup, Morgan & Co., Groton, Conn. 

Capt. John Washington, fisherman. Mystic Eiver, Conn. 

Capt. William H. Potter, fisherman. Mystic Eiver, Conn. 

Luce Brothers, East Lyme, Conn. 

Capt. Leander Wilcox, fisherman. Mystic Bridge, Conn. 

Capt. Samuel G. Beebe, keeper of Cornfield Point Light- Vessel, Say- 
brook, Conn. 

Eichard E. Ingham, keeper of Say brook Light-House, Conn. 

Prof. J. Hammond Trumbull, Hartford, Conn. 

George W. Burke, M. D., deputy collector of customs, Middletown, Conn. 

Capt. J. L. Stokes, oil manufacturer, Westbrook, Conn. 

George W. Miles, oil manufacturer, Milford, Conn. 

E. H. Jenkins, New Haven, Conn. 

H. L. Dudley, secretary U. S. Menhaden Oil and Guano Assciation, 
New Haven, Conn. 

F. Lillingstou, Stratford, Conn. 

B. Lilliiigston, Stratford Point Light- House, Conn. 

W. S. Havens, collector of customs. Sag Harbor, N. Y. 

Capt. Joseph 1). Parsons, Springs, N. Y. 

Capt. B. H. Sisson, United States Coast Survey, Greenport, N. Y. 

David F. Vail, oil manufacturer, Eiverhead, N. Y. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 273 

Hawkius Brothers, oil manufacturers, Jamesport, K. Y. 

Seaman Jones, New York City. 

W. O. Allison, editor Oil, Paint, and Drug Keporter, New York City. 

Jasper Pryer, New York City. 

E. G. Blackford, fish dealer. New York City. 

J. Norrison Rayuor, agent for Sterling & Co., Greenport, N. Y. 
Barnet Phillips, New York Times, New York City. 
Louis C. d'Homergue, Brooklyn, N. Y. 

F. F. Beals, secretary American Sardine Company, New York City and 
Port Monmouth, N. J. 

D. B. Foster, keeper of Cape May Light-House, N. J. 

A. G. Wolf, keeper of Absecom Light-House, Atlantic City, N. J. 

Capt. John D. Sanders, Leedsville, N. J. 

Albert Morris, Somers Point, N. J. 

A. A. Owens, Philadelphia, Pa. 

Joseph B. Benson, Bombay Hook, Del. 

James H. Bell, keeper Mispillion River Light-House, Delaware Bay. 

Benjamin Tice, keeper of Maurice River Light-House. 

Isaac D. Bobbins, keeper of Hog Island Light. 

Hance Lawsou, collector of customs, Crisfield, Md. 

Dr. H. C. Y^arrow, U. S. A., Washington, D. C. 

J. L. Anderton, Apateague Island, Accomac County, Va. 

G. Henry Selden, Kinsale, Westmoreland County, Va. 
Henry Richardson, keeper of Cape Henry Light-House, Va. 
Charles G. Manning, collector of customs, Edenton, N. C. 

A. W. Simpson, jr., assistant keeper Cape Hatteras Light, N. C. 

Wallace R. Jennett, ■Cape Hatteras, N. C. 

A. C. Davis, collector of customs, Beaufort, N. C. 

William F. Hatsel, keeper of Body's Island Light-House, N. C. 

Patrick Conner, keeper of Daufuskie Island, S. C, Range Beacons. 

George Gage, collector of customs, Beaufort, S. C. 

W. A. Ham, keeper of Range Beacons Light-House, Morris Island, S. C. 

H. W. Reed, keeper of Tyler Light, Savannah River, Ga. 

J. F. Hall, Brunswick, Ga. 

Joseph Shepard, collector of customs, Saint Mary's, Ga. 

Francis C. Goode, Arlington Bluffs, Saint John's River, Fla. 

Capt. David Kemps, Yellow Bluffs, Saint John's River, Fla. 

Dr. Charles Koch, Jacksonville, Fla. 

Charles Dougherty, New Smyrna, Fla. 

S. H. Wilkinson, keeper of Cat Island LightHouse, Miss. 

Silas Stearns, Pensacola, Fla. 

D. P. Kane, keeper Matagorda Light-House, Tex. 

The communications of Messrs. F. J. Babson, E. B. Phillips, Josiah 
Hardy, David T. Church, W. S. Havens, B. H. Sisson, James H. Bell, 
A. W. Simpson, jr., A. C. Davis, and David Kemps have been particu- 
larly valuable as furnishing data concerning habits and migrations j 
18 F 



274 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

those of Judson Tarr & Co., J. C. Condon, E. A. Friend, G. B. Ken- 
niston, G. W. Miles, and Hawkins Brothers in the statistics of manufac- 
tures; that of Mr. F. J. Babson in the statistics of the bait fisheries, 
and that of Mr. F. F. Beals in relation to the sardine manufactures. 
Thanks are due to Melton & Co., of Jacksonville, Fla., for specimens of 
fish from the Saint John's Kiver. 



APPENDIX C. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF LITERATURE RELATING TO THE MENHADEN. 

Brevoortta tyrannus (Latrobe) Goode. 

Clupea tyrannus, Latrobe, Transactions of the American Philosophical 

Society, vol. v, 1802, p. 77, plate 1 (four figures). 
Brevoortia tyrannus, Goode, Proceedings of the United States National 

Museum, 1878, p. 5. 
Clujpea dura Iccvi mystux (Hard Head), Belknap, History of New 

Hampshire, 2d ed,, 1813, vol. iii, p. 133. (Name only.) 
Clupea menhaden, Mitchill, Transactions of the Literary and Philo- 
sophical Society of New York, vol. i, 1815, p. 453, pi. v, fig. 7. 

Cook, Geology of the County of Cape May, State of New 
Jersey, 1857, p. 113. 

Gunther, Catalogue of Fishes in the British Museum, vol. 
vii, 1868, p. 436. 

Whiteaves, Notes on the Marine Fisheries, and particularly 
on the Oyster Beds of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, in Sixth Annual 
Eeport Department of Marine and Fisheries, 1874, p. 195. 
Alosa menhaden, Eichardson, Fauna Boreali Americana, 1836, p. 229. 
Storer, Eeport on the Icthyology and Herpetology of Massa- 
chusetts, 1839, p. 117 ; Memoirs of the American Academy of Arts 
and Sciences, new series, ii, 1846, p. 459 ; Synopsis of the Fishes 
of North America, 1846, p. 207 ; Mem. Amer. Acad., new series, 
vi, 1858, p. 386; History of the Fishes of Massachusetts, 1867, p. 
158, pi. xxvi, fig. 4, and (?) in Appleton's New American Cyclo- 
pedia. 

DeKay, Zoology of New York, or the New York Fauna, part 
iv. Fishes, 1842, p. 259, pi. xxi, fig. GO. 

Ayres, Enumeration of the Fishes from Brookhaven, Long 
Island. < Boston Journal of Natural History, vol. iv, 1844, p. 
275. 

Perley, Descriptive Catalogue [in part] of the Fishes of New 
Brunswick and Nova Scotia in Eeports on the Sea and Eiver 
Fisheries of New Brunswick (2d ed.), 1852, p. 208. 

Baird, Eeport to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution 
on Fishes of the New Jersey Coast, as observed in the Summer 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 275 

of 1854. <; Annual Eeport of the Smithsonian Institution for 
the year 1854, p. 347, and repaged edition, June, 1855, p. 33 ; Geol- 
ogy of the County of Cape May, State of New Jersey, 1857, p. 
147. 

Gill, On the Fishes of New York, in Annual Report of the 
Smithsonian Institution for the year 1856, p. 26G. 

Cook, op. cit., 1. c. 
Alausa menhaden, Valenciennes in Cavierand Valenciennes' Histoire 

Naturelle des Poissons, vol. xs, 1843, p. 424. 
Brevoortia menhaden, Gill, Catalogue of the Fishes of the East Coast 
of North America, 1861, p. 55 ; Proceedings of the Academy of 
Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, 1861, j). 37 (diagnosis of genus); 
Canadian Naturalist, 1867, p. 260, and in Baird's Eeport on the 
Sea Fisheries of the South Coast of New England, 1873, p. 826. 

Steindachner, in Sixth Annual Eeport of the Commissioners 
of Inland Fisheries (Massachusetts), for the year ending January 
1, 1872. 

Baird, List of Fishes collected at Wood's Hole, in Eeport on 
the Sea Fishes of the South Coast of New England, 1873, p. 826, 
and elsewhere in same report, p. 136. 

Verrill, On the Food and Habits of some of our Marine 
Fishes, in American Naturalist, v, 1871, p. 398; Lists of Species 
found in the Stomachs of Fishes, in Baird's report sup. cit., 1873, 
p. 520. 

Verrill, Smith and Harger, Catalogue of the Marine In- 
vertebrate Animals of the Southern Coast of New England, and 
Adjacent Waters, in Baird's report sup. cit., 1873, p. 578 (lernseaa 
parasite). 

Whiteaves, 1. c. 

Boardman and Atkins, The Menhaden and Herring Fisheries 
of Maine, 1875. 

GooDE, Catalogue of the Collection to illustrate the Animal 
Eesources of the United States, 1876, p. 63. 

Uhler & Lugger, List of the Fishes of Maryland, in the Ee- 
port of the Commissioners of Fisheries of Maryland, 1876 (first 
edition), p. 156 ; (second edition), p. 133. 

Hind, The Effect of the Fishery Clauses of the Treaty of Wash- 
ington on the Fisheries and Fishermen of British North America, 
1877, p. 73. 

Yarrow, Notes on the Natural History of Fort Macon, N. C, 
and Vicinity (No. 3), Fishes, in Proceedings of the Academy of 
Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, 1877, p. 215. 
Alosa sadina, Mitchell, op. cit, p. 457. 

Dekay, op. cit, p. 263, pi. xl, fig. 129. 
Alausa shadina, Valenciennes, op. cit, p. 426. 



276 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

Cliipea neglecta, Rafinesque, Secoud Decade of New North American 

Fishes, in American Monthly Magazine, vol. ii, 1818, p. 206. 
Clupanodon aureus, Spix, Selecta Genera et Species Piscium, Brazil, 

1829, p. 52, tab. xxi. 
A losa aurea, Valenciennes, op. cif., p. 427. 
Clupea aurea, Guntheb, oj>. cit, p. 437. 

Clupea Carolinetms, Gkonow, Catalogue of Fish collected and described 
by Lawrence Theodore Gronow, now in the British Museum (ed. 
Gray), 1854, p. 40. 
"Fish Guano," Halliday, S. B., in Country Gentleman, vol. vi, p. 250. 
S. W. Johnson, Ibid. vol. viii, p. 43. 
Cook, op. ctt. 
" Menhaden Fisheries and their Products, A new source of Commercial 
Industry." By Louis C. d'Homeroue, <in The Manufacturer 
and Builder, vol. iii, p. 114, May, 1876. 
"The Fish Od and Scrap Business," Connecticut, in American Agri- 
culturist, vol. xxxii, 1873, ]). 139. 
" Fish Scrap or Guano," Editorial, ibid, xxxi, 1872, p. 419. 
"The Manufacture of Fish Oil and Guano," Anonymous, tfti^. xxvi, 

1867, p. 400 (with wood cut of menhaden). 
" A Fish Oil and Guano Factory," Editorial, ibid, xxvii, 1868, p. 451 

(with wood cuts of factories and fishing scenes). 
"Pound fishing for menhaden." 

Lyman, On the Possible Exhaustion of Sea Fisheries, in Sixth 
Annual Report of the Commissioners of Inland Fisheries (Mass.), 
1872, p. 24. 
" The Sardine Industry " — 

Anonymous in Harpers Weekly, January, 1875, and Scientific 
American, February 6, 1875 (with wood cuts of fisheries and pro 
cess of manufacture). 
Menhaden used as food — 

Anonymous in Topography and History of Wareham, 1815, in 
collections of the Mass. Hist. Society, iv, second series, 1816, p. 
284. 
Storer, 1. c, Gill. Fishes of New York. 
Use of raw fish for manure — 

Field, David D., in Statistical Account of the County of Mid- 
dlesex, in Connecticut, 1819, p. 153. 

Thompson, Benjamin F., in his History of Long Island, 1839, 
p. 44. 

DwiGHT, Timothy, in his Travels in New England, pp. 305, 513. 
Boardman, Samuel L. and Atkins, Charles G. 

The I Menhaden and Herring Fisheries | of Maine | as sources 
of fertilization | A Report made to the Maine Board of Agricul- 
ture I By Samuel L. Boardman, Secretary of the Board | and | 
Charles G. Atkins, formerly Fish Commissioner of Maine | 8vo., 
1875, pp. 67. 



history of the american menhaden. 277 

Pacific Guaiso Company. 

The I Pacific Guano Company | its History; its Products and 
Trade ; | its Relation to Agriculture | — | Exhausted Guano 
Islands of the Pacific Ocean ; | Howland's Island, Chincha Islands 
I etc., etc. I — I The Swan Islands | — | The May Beds and 
Phosphate Eock of South Carolina | Chisolm's Island Phosphate 
I The Menhaden | Cambridge: | Printed for the Pacific Guano 
Company | at j The Eiverside Press | 1876 | 8vo., pp. 63. 

Maddocks, L. 

The Menhaden fishery of Maine | with statistical and historical 
details | its | relations to agriculture | and as a | direct source of 
human food | — | new processes, products, and discoveries | — | 
Published by the | Association of the Menhaden Oil and Guano 
Manufacturers of Maine | Press of B. Thurston & Company, Port- 
land, 1878. Prepared by Mr. Luther Maddocks. 

The MENHADEN AS A BAIT FISH — 

Professor Spencer F. Baird, Testimony before the Halifax Com- 
mission, 1817, Appendix L, i)p. 467, 469. 

James Bradley, Testimony, Halifax Commission, 1877, Appen- 
dix L, p. 5. 

Edward Stapleton, ib., p. 11. 

Nathaniel E. Atwood, ib., p. 42. 

Benjamin Maddocks, ib., p. 138. 

Benjamin Ashby, ib., pp. 246-7. 

Eobert H. Hulbert, ib., p. 296. 

Sylvanus Smith, ib., pp. 334, 341, Appendix M, p. 81. 

Major David W. Low, ib., pp. 362, 364, 367, 268. 

James H. Myrick, ib., j). 428. 

Spencer F. Baird, ib., pp. 457, 458, 460. 

William Eaton, Appendix M, p. 6. 

L. G. Crane, ib., p. 8. 

H. E. Willard, Cape Elizabeth, Me., pp. 10, 11. 

Enoch G. Wiilard, ib., pp. 15, 16. 

George Tretethen, ib., pp. 17, 18. 

John Conley, ib., p. 21. 

O. B. Whitten, ib., p. 23. 

S. B. Chase, ib., pp. 25, 26. 

M. N. Eich, ib., pp. 27, 28. 

Noah Swett, ib., pp. 30, 31. 

C. C. Pettingell, ib., pp. 33, 34. 

William H. Nelson, ib., pp. 35, 36. 

A. W. Small, ib., pp. 38-39. 

C. E. Smalley, E. C. Kenney, ib., pp. 40, 41. 

Elisha Crowell, ib., pp. 42, 43. 

Caleb Nickerson, ib., pp. 45, 40. 

Horatio Babson, ib., pp. 48, 49. 



278 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

r. W. Friend, ih., pp. 51, 52. 

George W. Plumer, ih., pp. 54, 55. 

H. Knowlton, E. A. Horton, ih., pp. 57, 58. 

Albion K. Pierce, ih., pp. 60, Gl. 

George Norwood, ih., pp. 63, 64. 

Andrew Leighton, ih., pp. 66, 67. 

W. 0. Wonson, ih., pp. 6^, 69. 

George Friend & Co., ih., pp. 71, 72. 

Frederick Gerring, ih., pp. 73, 74. 

F. G. Wonson, ih., pp. 76, 77. 

Cliarles H. Pew, ih., pp. 78, 79. 

Mauris Wlielen, ih., p. 82. 

Thomas Grady, ih., p. 82. 

James G. Tarr, ih., p. 83. 

John E. Gorman, ib., p. 84. 

Henry Hardy, ih., p. 85. 

John E. Saunders, ih., p. 86. 

Eichard Han nan, ih., p. 86. 

James G. McKean, ih., p. 195. 

George Crichet, ih., p. 202. 

Christopher Carrigan, ih., p. 202. 

Martin Ryan, ih., p. 204. 

Philip Eyan, ih., p. 204. 

Andrew Laurie, ih., p. 205. 

Thomas England, ib., p. 205. 

Eufus Carrigan, ih., p. 200. 

Charles Lowrie, ih., p. 207. 

George Laidlaw, ih., p. 209. 

Eoderick McDonald, oj). cit, p. 210. 

Daniel McDonald, ib., p. 211. 

Dougald McKinnon, ih., p. 212. 

James E. McLean, Appendix F, pp. 24, 29. 

Wm. S. McNiell, ib., p. 57. 

George Mackenzie, ib., p. 132. 

James McKay, ih., p. 190. 

John Nicholson, ih., p. 205. 

John Maguire, ih., p. 214. 

James W. Bigelow, ih., p. 222. 

Michael Wrayton, ih., p. 231. 

James Lord, ih., p. 245. 

John F. Taylor, ih., p. 299. 

James A. Tory, ib., p. 323. 

James Hickson, ih., p. 342. 
John McLellan, ib., p. 404. 

Knowles, Charles G. F., Third Eeport of the Department of Marine 
and Fisheries, 1871, p. 341. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 279 

n. W. Johnston, A Special Eeport on the Distress among the Nova 
Scotia Fishermen, 1870. 

Case of Her Majesty's G-overnment, op. cit., Appendix A, p. 28. 

Answer on Behalf of the United States of America to the Case of 
Her Britannic Mojesty's Government, Appendix B, pp. 18, 19. 

Eeply on Behalf of Her Britannic Majesty's Government to the An- 
swer of the United States of America, Appendix C, pp. 9, 10. 

Eichard H. Dana, jr., Appendix J, p. 78; Appendix F, p. 67. 



APPEl!^DIX D. 

EXTRACTS FROM WRITINGS OF ICHTnYOLOGISTS RELATING TO THE 

MENHADEN. 

[From Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, Vol. V, 1802, pj). 77-81.] 

A DRAWING AND DESCRIPTION OF THE CLUPEA TYRANNUS AND ONIS- 
CUS PR^GUSTATOR. BY BENJAMIN HENRY LATROBE, F. A. P. S. 

The committee, to whom was referred Mr. Latrobe's paper on a species 
of Oniscus, called by the author Oniscus incvgustator^ reports that the 
same is worthy of publication. 

Benjamim Smith Barton. 

February 17, 1800. 

Philadelphia, December 18th, 1799. 
To Thomas P. Smith, 

One of the Secretaries of the American Philosophical Society : 
Sir : I beg leave, through your means, to communicate to the Amer- 
ican Philosophical Society an account of an insect, whose mode of 
habitation, at least during some part of his life, has appeared to me one 
of the most singular, not to say whimsical, that can be conceived. 

In the month of March, 1797, illness confined me, for several days, at 
the bouse of a friend on York Eiver, in Virginia, during Lis absence. 
My inability to move farther than the shore of the river gave me leisure 
to examine carefully, and in more than an hundred instances, the fact 
I am going to mention. 

Among the fish that, at this early season of the year, resort to the 
waters of the York Eiver, the alewife, or old-wife, called the bayalewife 
[Clupea nondescripta), arrives in very considerable shoals, and in some 
seasons their number is almost incredible. They are fully of the size of a 
large herring, and are principally distinguished from the herring by a 
bay or red spot above gill-fin. They are, when caught, from March to 
May, full roed and fat, and are at least as good a fish for the table as 
the herring. In this season, each of the alewives carries in her mouth 
an insect, about two inches long, hanging with its back downwards and 
firmly holding itself by its 14 legs to the palate. The fishermen call this 
insect "the louse." It is with diificulty that it can be separated, and 



280 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

perbaps never without injury to tlie jaws of the fish. The fishermen, 
therefore, consider the insect as essential to the life of the fish, for when 
it is taken out, and the fish is thrown again into the water, he is inca- 
l)able of swimming and soon dies. I endeavored in numerous instances 
to preserve both the insect and the fish from injury, but was always 
obliged either to destroy the one or to injure the other. I have some- 
times succeeded in taking out the insect in a brisk and lively state. As 
soon as he was set free from my grasp, he immediately scrambled nim- 
bly back into the mouth of the fish and resumed his position. In every 
instance he was disgustingly corpulent and unpleasant to handle, and it 
seemed, whether he have obtained his post by force or by favor, whether 
he be a mere traveler or a constant resident, or what else may be his 
business where he is found, he certainly has a fat place of it, and fares 
sumptuously every day. 

The drawings annexed to this account were made from the live insect, 
and from the fish out of whose mouth he was taken. I had no books to 
refer to then; but examining the Systema Katurse of Linuseus, I was 
surprised to find so exact a description of the insect as follows (see 
Salvii Editio, Holmiae, 17G3, 1060, also Trattner's Vienna edition, same 
page) : 

"Insect, apt. Oniscus, Pedes XIV. 
Antennai setacet©. 
Corpus ovale. 

" O. physodes, abdomiue subtus nudo c^uda, ovata ; habitat in pelago ; 
corpus praeter caput, et caudam ultimatum, ex septem segmentis trunci, 
et quinque caudae. Antennce utrinque duo, breves. Caudae folium ter- 
minale omino ovatum ; ad latera utrinque subtus auctum duobus pete- 
olis diphyllis, foliolis lanceolatis, obtusis, cauda brevioribus. Caudse 
articuli subtus obtecti numerosis vesiculis longitudine caudaev' 

From the particularity with which the Oniscus pliysodes is described by 
Linnaeus, it is evident that he had the insect before him, or a description 
by an attentive observer. It appears also from the " habitat in jjelago," 
that the 0. physodes, if this be the insect, is found detached from his con- 
ductor. There are a few points in which the O.pliysodes differs from my 
Insect. I did not observe the antennae, perhai)S for want of sufdcieut 
attention, or of a microscope. The peteoli of the tail were not, to 
appearance, two-leaved, and I am certain that the segments of the tail, 
and the tail itself, were without the vesiculi longitudine caudai. 

There are many circumstances, to ascertain which is essential to the 
natural history of this insect. The fish whose mouth he inhabits comes, 
about the same time with the shad, into the rivers of Virginia from the 
ocean, and continues to travel upward from the beginning of March to 
the middle of May ; as long as they are caught upon their passage up 
the river, they are found fat and full of roe. Every fish which I saw 
had the Oniscus in his mouth, and I was assured, not only by the more 
ignorant fishermen, but by a very iutelligent man who came down now 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 281 

and then to divert himself with fishing, that, in forty years' observation, 
he had never seen a bay-alewife without the louse. The shad begin to 
return from the fresh water lean and shotten about the end of May and 
beginning of June, and continue descending during the remaining sum- 
mer months. No one attempts then to catch them, for they are unfit for 
the table. Whether the bay-alewife returns with the shad, I could not 
learn, bat it is certain that after June it is not thought worth the trouble 
to catch them. No one could tell me positively whether the Oniscus still 
continues with them, but it was the opinion of my informant, that, like 
every other parasite, he deserts his protector in his reduced state, for he 
could not recollect that he had ever seen him in the mouth of those 
accidentally caught in the seine in July or August. 

I consider, therefore, the natural history of the Oniscus which I now 
communicate as very imperfect; and it were to be wished that some 
lover of natural science would follow up the inquiry, by endeavoring to 
ascertain whether he continue with, or quit the fish before his return 
to the ocean, and also whether he be the Oniscus physodes of Linnaeus, 
qui habitat in pelago. 

Should he be an insect hitherto undescribed, I think he might be very 
aptly named, Oniscus prccgustator. 

The bay-alewife is not accurately described in any ichthyological 
work which I have seen ; nor can I from my drawings, which were made 
with a very weak hand, venture a description. From his having a reg- 
ular prsegustator, I would suggest that he ought to be named Cliipea 
tyrannus. 

The Oniscus resembles the minion of a tyrant in other respects, for he 
is not without those who suck him. Many of those which I caught had 
two or three leeches on their bodies, adhering so closely that their 
removal cost them their heads. Most of the marine Onisci ai)pear to be 
troublesome to some one or other fish. The Oniscus cetiis well known 
as the plague of whales, and many of the rest are mentioned iu Linnseus 
and Gmelin as pestes piscium. 

BENJA. HENRY LATROBE, F. A. P. 8. 

P. S. — A gentleman well skilled in entomology informs me that he 
believes that in Block's History of Fishes, a work not to be had in 
Philadelphia, this OaisGus is mentioned. But, from a late examination 
of Gmelin and Fabricius, I am convinced that the Oniscus prccgustator 
is a species not hitherto accurately described. Gmelin had probably 
seen the Linnssan insect, having changed the antennae utrinque duo 
to antenuis quaternis, and left out most of the long description given by 
Linnaeus. Neither he, Linnaeus, nor Fabricius mentions the circum- 
stance of habitation in the mouth of the fish, and the industrious and 
copious Fabricius, who having changed the names of the genera, calls 
him Cymothoa physodes^ copies the description of Gmelin, excepting the 
mention of the 4 antennae, which iu his arrangement form a character 
of the genus. 



282 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

[From "The Flslies of New York, described and arranged," by Samuel L. Mitcbill, in 
Transactions of the Literary and Philosophical Society of New York, 1815, p. 453.] 

BONY-FISn, HARD-HEADS, OR MARSHRANKERS, OF NeW YORK. 

{Cln_pea menhaden.) 

About fourteen inches long, frequent the New York waters in pro- 
digious numbers. From the bigli banks of Montock, I have seen acres 
of them purpling the water of the Atlantic Ocean. The waters of Long 
Island Sound and its bay are often alive with shoals of them. They are 
eatable; but as they are too abundant for consumption as food, and as 
there are multitudes of preferable fish, menhaden are often left to jiutrefy 
on the shore or are removed to the fields for manure. 

The history of this fish has been written by Mr. B. H. Latrobe, and 
published with a figure, in the Philosophical Transactions of Philadel- 
phia, Vol. V. And the manner of converting him to an ingredient for 
fertiliziug land has been explained by Ezra L'Hommedieu, esq., in the 
Agricultural Transactions of New Y^ork, Vol. I., p. 65. The aborigines 
called him menhaden. The whalemen say he is the favorite food of the 
great bone- whale or Balteua mysticetus. This creature, opening its mouth 
amidst a shoal of menhaden, receives into its cavity the amount of some 
hogsheads of menhaden at a gulp. These pass, one by one, head foremost 
down his narrow gullet; and eye-witnesses have assured me that on 
cutting up whales after death, great quantities of menhaden had been 
discovered thus regularly disposed in the stomach and iutestiues. 

Gill-c3ver very large. One blackish spot on the neck near it. Head 
and back greenish-brown, with a few marks of brighter green on the 
head. Belly and sides considerably iridescent. Back arched, rounded, 
and thick; tail forked; belly serrated; mouth and tongue toothless 
and smooth ; gills rising from the back of the tongue on both sides of the 
wide throat. 

Bays, Br. 7, P. 15, V. 7, D. 19, A. 19, C. 27. 



[From "The Fishes of New York described and arranged," by Samuel L. Mitchill, in 
Transactions of the Literary and Philosophical Society of New York, 1815, p. 457.] 

New York Shadine {Clupea sadina). 

An elegant species, with a small smutty spot behind the gill-cover, 
but with neither spots nor stripes on its back or sides ; mouth wide and 
toothless; tongue small; back delicately variegated with green and 
blue; lateral line straight; sides silvery white, considerably above that 
line, and below it quite to the belly; the white-reflects vividly green, 
red, and other spleudid hues; head rather elongated; lower jaw pro- 
jecting; scales very easily deciduous; form neat, taper, and slender; 
gills rise into the throat on each side of the root of the tongue ; eyes 
pale and large ; tail deeply forked ; on account of the even connection 
of the false ribs, the belly is not at all serrated, but quite smooth; a 
semi-transparent space in front of the eyes from side to side. 

Bays, Br. 7, P. IG, V. 9, D. 18, A. 15, C. 19. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 283 

[From Storer's " History of the Fishes of Massachusetts," 1867, p. 158.] 

Alosa menhaden, Storer. The Menhaden. 
(Plate XXVr, Fig. 4.) 

Clupea menhaden, Bony-fish, Hard-heads, or Marsh-bankers of New York, Mitch., Trans. 

Lit. and Phil. Soc. of New York, 1, p, 453, pi. 5, fig. 7. 
Alosa menhaden, Menhaden, Hard-head, Stoker, Report, p. 117. 
Jlosa menhaden, Moss-bonker, Dekay, Report, p. 259, pi. 21, fig. CO. 
Alosa menhaden, Aybrs, Bost. Jour. Nat. Hist., iv, p. 275 ; Storer, Mem. Amer. Acad., 

new series, 11, p. 459. 
Alosa menhaden, Storer, Synopsis, p. 207. 
L'Alose menhaden, Cuv. & Val., Hist. Nat. des Pois., xs, p. 424. 

Color. — Upper part of body of a greenish-brown, darker upon the top 
of the head and at the snout 5 upper part of the sides in the living fish 
roseous and mottled with indistinct bluish oscillations, which disappear 
in death ; abdomen silvery ; gill covers cupreous, with a rosy tint; space 
in front of the eyes translucent ; a black spot, more or less distinct, 
upon the shoulders ; whole surface of the fish iridescent. 

Description. — Body elongated, compressed ; its depth across, at the 
base of the pectorals, less th?.n one-fifth the length of the fish ; length of 
the head more than one-third the length of the fish ; gill-covers very 
large; opercula, with numerous deeply marked striae, which commence 
just beneath a large green blotch, situated some distance back of the 
eye and on a line with ir, and pass obliquely backward and downward 
to its lower edge ; subopercula and interopercula smooth ; preopercula 
presenting an arborescent appearance of vessels upon their surface; 
eyes circular, moderate in size, furnished with a nictitating membrane; 
gape of mouth very large; lower jaw shorter than the upper; the mid- 
dle of the upper jaw deeply emarginate j back slightly arched in front 
of the dorsal fin. 

The dorsal fin commences upon the anterior half of the body; it is 
nearly as long again as high, and is emarginated above; at its base is 
a membranous prolongation or sheath, by which it is almost entirely 
covered when unexpanded. The first three rays of this fin are simple ; 
the first articulated rays are higher than the remainder, the most posterior 
higher than the eight or nine preceding. 

The pectorals are situated just beneath the posterior inferior angle 
of the operculum; the first three rays are the longest; the first ray is 
simple. Outside of this fin is an axillary i)late more than two-thirds 
the length of the fin ; a broad scaly shield at the base of the pectorals 
covers a portion of the inferior edge. 

The ventrals are very small and fan-shaped, their rays are multifid; 
on each side of these fins is an axillary plate. 

The anal fin is shorter than the dorsal, low and slightly emarginated 
above; its anterior rays are highest; the first ray is simple; it is 
sheathed at its base like the dorsal. 



284 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

The caudal fin is deeply forked; the depth of the fin at its extremities, 
when expanded, is equal to the height of tbe outer rays. 

The flu rays are as follows : D. 19; P. 15, IC, or 17 ; Y.G', A. 20, 21, 
or 22 ; C. 20|. 

Length, eight to fourteen inches. 



[From Dekay's "Zoology of New York," Part IV., Fishes, 1842, p. 259.] 

The mossbonker. Alosa menhaden, 
(Plate XXI, Fig. GO.) 

Bouy-fish or Mossbonker. Clupea menhaden. 

MiTCHiLL, Report iu part, &c., p. 21. 
Hard-bead or Marsbankers. C. menhaden. 

Id. Trans. Lit. and Phil. Soc, vol. 1, p. 453. 
The Menhaden, Hard-head. Alosa menhaden. 

Stoker, Massachusetts, Report, p. 117. 

Characteristics. — Silvery ; no stripes ; a humeral spot. A double ac- 
cessory ray to the veutrals. Abdomen serrated behind the ventrals. 
Length 10-14 inches. 

Description. — Body much compressed ; its height to its length as one 
to four nearly. Abdomen cultrate, with a fissure along its edge, indis- 
tinctly serrated before the veutrals, sharply serrate behind. Scales 
large, elliptical, distinctly and evenly ciliate on the free margins; 
on the back smaller and more crowded ; on the nape the scales have 
longer unequal cilise. Xo appearance of a lateral line. Head large, com- 
pressed, one-third of the total length; the opercles with curved and 
radiating striae. Mouth large, the upper jaw emarginate on the side. 
The gill membrane on one side folds over its opposite, with five slender 
cylindrical, and three larger and flat rays. Branchial arches four, with 
a small rudimentary one in front, all angular, and with a long minutely 
fringed filament. Eyes nearly covered by a nictitating membrane. 
Tongue soft, white, minutely punctate with black. The dorsal fin long, 
emarginate; the first three rays simple, articulated; the anterior be- 
ing very short, the remainder branched ; first branchial ray highest, the 
last higher than the four preceding. This fin is concave on its margin, 
and is placed in a sheath. Pectorals long and pointed on a line with 
the margin of the opercles ; the first ray simple ; the accessory plate 
large and as long as the fifth ray. Veutrals feeble, short, fan-shaped, 
lying under the anterior i)ortion of the dorsal, with double accessory 
plates. Anal long and low, the two first rays simi)le, the first shortest ; 
the last ray longer than the fourteen preceding. Scales covering the 
base of the rays, so as to form a sort of sheath. Caudal forked, much 
branched, and with numerous accessory rays. Scales extending high 



HISTOEY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 285 

up Oil tbe fiu, and very minute ones distributed ulmost to the tip. Ab- 
domen covered internally with a black pigment. • Intestines long and 
convoluted ; cjeca numerous, attached to a stout muscular stomach, lined 
with a white rugose membrane, covered with numerous papilloe. Air- 
bladder simple. 

Color. — Summit of the head and back greenish; silvery on the sides. 
In the plates, more of a yellow hue is given to this fish than belongs to 
him. A dark brown spot on the shoulders, behind the opercles. Irides 
yellow. A space anterior to the eyes so translucent as to permit opaque 
objects to be seen through on the other side. 

Length 8.0-14.0. 

Fin-rays, D. 20 ; P. 16 ; V. G ; A. 22 ; C. 20f . 

This fish is known under the various names of bony-fish, hard-head, 
mossbonkers (or, as it is pronounced by our Dutch inhabitants, morse- 
bonkers), panhagen, and menhaden; the last being the name given by 
the Manhattans, and panhagen (pronounced panhangen) the Narragan- 
sett epithet. At the east end of the island, they are called skippangs, 
or bunkers. Although seldom eaten, as it is dry, without flavor, and 
full of bones, yet it is one of the most valuable fish found within our 
waters. Its use as a manure is well known in the counties of Suffolk, 
Kings, and Queens, where it is a source of great wealth to the farmer 
who lives upon the sea-coast. They are used in various ways : for Indian 
corn, two or three are thrown on a hill; for wheat, they are thrown 
broadcast on the field, and plowed under ; although it is not uncom- 
mon to put them in layers alternately with common mold, and when 
decomposed spread it like any other compost. Its effects in renovating 
old grass-fields, whan spread over with these fish at the rate of about 
two thousand to the acre, are very remarkable. Its value, however, as 
a manure has one drawback in the abominable and unhealthy stench 
which poisons the whole country, and, according to the testimony of some 
medical writers, lays the foundation of dysenteries and autumnal fevers. 
They appear on the shores of Long Island about the beginning of June, 
in immense schools ; and as they frequently swim with a part of the 
head above or near the surface of the water, they are readily seen and 
captured. They are commonly sold on the spot at the rate of $2 the 
wagon-load, containing about a thousand fish. The largest haul I re- 
member to have heard of was through the surf at Bridgehampton, at 
the east end of the island. Eighty-four wagon loads, or, in other words, 
84,000 of these fish were taken at a single haul. On the coast of Massa- 
chusetts they are used as bait for mackerel, cod, and halibut ; and many 
are packed away for exportation to the West Indies. According to Dr. 
Storer, in 1836, 1,488 barrels were thus salted down for exportation. 
I am not aware that its geographical limits pass beyond the coast of 
New Hampshire on one side, and Chesapeake Bay on the other. 



286 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 
[From Cuvier and Valenciennes' "Histoire Naturclle cles Poissons," vol. xs, p. 424.] 

L'ALOSE" MENHADEN. {Alausa menhaden, nob.) 

Cette clupee, tres abondante aux Etats-TJDis, I'un des produits conside- 
rables des vastes fleuves de cette coutree, est ^miuemment remarquable 
par la grosseur de sa tete et par la hauteur de la region pectorale du 
tronc ; elle 6gale trois fois et demie la hauteur de la queue. La longueur 
de la tete surpasse en quelque pen cette hauteur, et elle est comprise 
trois fois dans la distance entre le bout du museau et la naissance de la 
caudale. Ces proportions moutreut que le corps est extremement trapu. 
La machoire superieure ne depasse pas I'inl'^rieure. L'oeil est recouvert 
d'une double paupi6re adipeuse ties-epaisse. L'opercule a de fines 
stries et de jolies tres agr(5ablment ramifiees. De fines stries rayon- 
nautes couvrent l'opercule ; il y en a aussi vers le bas du preopercule. 
Le sous-opercule et I'interopercule sont tres grands. La ceiuture 
humerale est 6ti'oite. La dorsale est sur le milieu de la longueur du 
tronc. Les nombres des rayons de ces nageoires ue difierent pas de ceux 
des autres especes. 

D. 19 ; A. 19 ; C. 27 ; P. 15 ; V. 7. 

Les ecailles sont fiiiement et lougument ciliees. Leur portion libre 
est petite ; la partie radicale a des stries verticales et parall^les au bord. 
De chaque cote du dos ou remarque deux ran gees d' ecailles beaucoup 
plus profondement ciliees, et que, en s'enchevetrantsurlalignemoyenue, 
forment une singuliere gouttiere le long de cette ligue. Des Ecailles 
merabraneuses font une gouttiere assez profonde, dans laquelle s' engage 
la dorsale. Une tache d'uu bleu foncc existe sur le haut de I'epaule, et 
se conserve parfaitement sur les individus gardes depuis longtemps dans 
I'alcool. Le dos est verdatre ; tout le reste du poisson brille d'un vif 6clat 
argente. • Nous avons recu de nombreux individus de cette cspece. Les 
plus grands n'ont que treize a quatorze pouces. M. M. Milbert et Lesueur 
les out envoyes en abondance des marches de Kew York et de Philadel- 
phie. M. Bosc avait rapporte Pespece de la Caroline, et r6cemment M. 
Holbroock m'en a envoy 6 d' autres exemplaires des marches de Cbarles- 
town. Enfiu, M. le conite de Castelman en a couvoye de P embouchure 
de 1' Hudson. 

L'espece a paru pour la premiere fois dans le m^moire de M. Mitchill 
sous le nom que nous lui conservons. Nous hi retrouvous dans les 
ouvrages de MM. Storer et Dekay. Celui-ci en a donne une bell figure, 
et le premier de ces auteurs a fait connaitre le nombre considerable de 
barils que I'on esporte chaque aunee. Comme c'est un poisson tr^shuil- 
eux, on s'en sert plntot comme engrais ou comme amorce, surtout pour 
les grands Fletans {Peuronectes hippoglossiis). C'est sous ce rapport qu'il 
devieut I'objet d'uu commerce consid6rable. Au nom de Menhaden, qui 
est une de ses denominations vulgaries, il faut ajouter celle de Panhagen 
et de Mosshonlers ou de BonyfisU, etc. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 287 

[From Ubler «fc Lugger's List of the Fishes of Maryland, 1876, p. 133.] 

Brevoortia menhaden. Ale-wife, or Menhaden. 

Body elongated, compressed. Its depth across, at the base of the pec- 
torals, less than one-fifth the length of the fish ; length of the head more 
than one-third the length of it. Gill-covers very large. Ijpper part of 
body greenish-brown, darker upon the top of the head and at the snout ; 
upper part of the sides in the living fish rose-colored and mottled with 
blue, which disappear in death ; abdomen silvery ; a black spot, more 
or less distinct, upon the shoulders ; whole surface of the fish iridescent. 

Length 10 to 14 inches. 

Fin-rays: D. 19; P. 15-17; V. G; A. 18-22; C. 20. 

B. menhaden, Mitch., Lit. and Phil. Trans. New York, 1. p. 45.% pi. 5, fig. 7. 

Alosa menhaden, Storer, Report Fish. Massach., p. 117 ; Dekay, York Faun., Fish., p. 

259, pi. 21,iig. 60; Ayeks, Boston Jour. Nat. Hist., iv, p. 275; Storer, Mem. 

Am. Ac, vi. p. 337, pi. 26, fig. 3. 
Brevoortia menhaden, Gill., Proc. Ac, Nat. Sc. Philad., 1861, p. 37. 

Common on the Atlantic coast of Worcester County and even entering 
Sinepusent Bay, also in vast shoals in Chesapeake Bay, particularly about 
the mouths of the great rivers of both peninsulas. They have been exten- 
sively used for manure by the farmers living near the coast, where they 
are caught by untold thousands in the large seines. 

Acad. Coll. S. I. 



[From Peiley's Reports on the Sea and River Fisheries of New Brunswick, 1852, p. 208.] 

Species 3. — Alosa menhaden — The Mossbonker. 

This fish is known by a variety of i)opular names, among which are 
*' bony-fish," " hard-head," " i)auhagen," and " menhaden." It is seldom 
eaten, being dry, without flavor, and full of bones. On the coast of the 
United States it is used as bait for cod, and also extensively as manure 
for renovating old grass-fields, but not without injury to the health of 
those who reside in the vicinity. The mossbonker is sometimes caught 
in the weirs, within the harbor of Saint John, in considerable numbers ; 
it has occasionally been sold to the ignorant for fall shad, to which it 
bears some resemblance. The mossbonker is exclusively a sea-fish, 
never entering the fresh water. 



[From Gray's " Catalogue of Fish, collected and described by Lawrence Theodore 
Gronow, now in the British Museum," 1854, p. 140.] 

Clupea carolinensis— M. G. B. M. 

Clupea imraaculata argentea abdomine anteriore prominulo dentate: 
lateribus amplissimis. 

Habitat gregatim ad Carolinam Meridionalem, 



288 EEPOET OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

Longitudo tota quinque pollicaris et altitude maxima paulo ante pin- 
nam dorsalem est unius polliciscum deiuidio. 

Dorsum rectum, couvexum, Ciipitipairellelum. Caput cathetoplateum, 
cranium rectum convexiusculum 5 utriugue compressum subtus augusta- 
tum cariuatum adscendens a juncturis branchiarum versus os. Oculi 
magni, ori proximi : mystaces lalissiinss osece pellucidae inermes Max- 
illa inferior augusta, acuminata, oblique sursum spectans, ad superio- 
rem adductilis. Opercula planiuscula, latissima, splendedissima rotun- 
datetruncata. Latera planiuscula, obliquata, mox post pinnas pecto- 
rales latissima, versus caudam gracilescentia. Abdomen CAnnaXnnx valde 
I)romiuens, squamis deuticulato-serratum. Color argenteus splendens, 
in dorso coerulescens. Linea lateralis nulla. ISquamce imbricatim sitae, 
latae, deciduse. Prima Dorsi in medio dorso parva radiis 18. Pecto- 
rales in imo pectore radiis 17. Ventrales approximatoe parvse in imo 
ventre, initio dorsalis oppositte medio inter ventrales et analem, radiis 
sex. Analis humilis, medio inter ventrales et caudam, radiis 18, sensim 
decrescentibus. Cauda profunde bifurcata, lobis sequalibus acuminatis, 
radiis contiguis, subramosis. Latitudine laterum prsesertim ab Harengo 
B difl'erre videtur. 



[From Giinther's " Catalogue of the Fishes in the British Museum," vol. vii, p. 436.] 

Clupea menhaden. Mossbanker. 

Chipea menhaden, Mitch., Lit. Sf Phil. Trans., New York, i, p. 453, pi. 5, fig. 7. 

Alosa menhaden, Stoker, Report Fish. Massach., p. 117 ; Uekay, N. York Faun., p. 259, pi. 

21, fig. GO; Ayeks, Host. Journ. Nat. Eist., iv, p. 275; Cuv. &. Val., sx, p. 424; 

Stoker, Mem. Am. Ac, vi, p. 337, pi. 26, fig. 3. 
sadina, Dekay, 1. c, p. 263, pi. 40, fig. 129. Mitchile's Clupea sadina (Trans. Lit. 

& Phil. Soc. New York, i, p. 457) was evidently a different fish, which, however 

cannot be determined at present. 
Clupea carolinensis, Gronov, Syst., ed. Gray, p. 140. 
Urevooriia menhaden, Gill, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sc. Philad., 1861, p. 37. (Name only.) 

D 19 ; A. 10-20 ; V. 7. 

Scales irregularly arranged ; their free portion is very narrow and 
deep, with the margin ciliated. The height of the body is rather less than 
the length of the head, ivhich is onethird of the total {icithout caudal). 
Lower jaw shutting within the upper ; maxillary reaching to the verti- 
cal from the hind margin of the orbit. No teeth on the palate or tongue. 
Operculum finely striated; suboperculurn large, tapering above. Giil- 
rakers very fine and exceedingly long ; the horizontal branch of the 
outer branchial arch consists of two portions joined at an obtuse angle. 
Ventral fins opposite to the anterior third of the dorsal, the origin of 
which is somewhat nearer to the caudal than to the end of the snout. 
Basil half of the caudal fin covered with small scales. There are from 
twelve to thirteen abdominal scutes behind the base of the ventral fins. 
A blackish blotch in the scapuiary region. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 



289 



Atlantic coast of the United States. 

a, 6, Adult New York. Purchased of Mr. Brandt, c, (Z, Half-grown 
and young; skins; New York. From Mr. ParnelPs collection, e, /, 
Young, North America. Presented by E. Doubleday, esq. <;, Young. 
Old collection {Clupea smaragdina). /a, Young; skin. From Gronow's 
collection. Type of Clupea carolinensis. 



APPENDIX E. 

CATALOGUE OF SPECIMENS IN THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



© . 

Si 
5 " 


Sex and 
age. 


Locality. 


When col- 
lected. 


Collected by- 


Nature of 
specimen. 


Remarks. 


16369 


Young . . 

...do .... 
...do .... 

...do ... 

do 






United States Fish 
Commission. 


Alcoholic . . . 
....do 




12831. 


"Wasbinfton D C 






13369 






United States Fish 

Commission. 
do 


....do 

....do 




13356 


do 






15055 








....do 




13370 


...do .... 

...do .... 
do 






United States Fish 

Commission. 
do 


....do 

....do 




13371 


do 






1337:i 


do 




...do 


....do 




1331)5 


do 


do 




do 


....do 




lOUG 


...do ... 
...do.... 

...do ... 
do 


do 




Vinal N. Edwards. 
United States Fish 

Commission. 
....do 


....do 

... do 

....do 




16376 


Kobinsou's Hell, Mass 






13368 






13359 


do 




do 


....do 




201)13 
5055 


...do .... 
...do ... 
..do ... 

...do .... 
...do .... 
...da .... 

. d-o . 


do 

do 

do 




Vinal N. Edwards. 
S. F. Baird 


....do 

....do 




13373 


United States Fish 

Commission. 
... do 


....do 

....do 




133fi3 


do 






20G30 


do 




Vinal N. Edwards. 
United States Fish 

Commission. 
do 


....do 

....do 

....do 




10386 


do 






13357 


do 






14133 


...do .... 
...do ... 
..do ... 






....do 


....do 




133G2 






...do 


...do 




16368 






do 


....do 




13360 


do 


do . 




...do 


do 




20616 


...do .... 


do 




Vinal K Edwards. 
United States Fish 

Commission. 
do 


do 

do 

....do 




14136 


...do .... 
.. do ... 








13361 








15>18 






....do 


Stomach 

Alcoholic ... 
...do 




13374 


...do 

...do ... 

...do .... 

...do'.'.'.. 


Wood's HgII, Mass 




...do 




13375 


Mencmsba Bight, 
Mass. 




do 




14817 




....do 


....do 




14 139 


do 




... do 


Ovaries 

Alcoholic . .. 

....do 

....do 

do 




133G4 


do 




...do 




20^83 


. . . Uo 


do 




Vinal N. Edwards. 
United States Fish 

Commission. 

.do 




13367 


...do .... 


do 






1.3358 


.. do . 


do 






20679 


... do . 


.do 




Vinal N. Edwards - 
. . do 


...do 

....do 




20Gr6 


. . do . . . 


do ... 






10405 


Ad 






S. F. Baird 


..do 

...do 

....do 


709 C. A. S. 


515-3 


Young . . 


West Florida 




Kaiser and Mart in . 
Capt. Van Vliet .. 




892 


Brazos Santiago, Tex 






.^864 




New Orleans Acad- 
emy. 

Erai;ry & Clark ... 

Wurdemann 

B. B.C. Wails 

United States Fish 
Commission. 


...do 

. ..do 

....do 

-.do 

Ovaries 

....do 




en 










7696 










5948 










15217 




Noank, Conn 


Aug. 24, 1874 

Aug. 20, 1876 
Sept. 14, 1876 




16947 






16946 




do 


....do 


... do 





19 F 



290 KEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

Catalogue of specimens in the National Miisetim — Continued. 



II 


Sex and 
age. 


Locality. 


When col- 
lected. 


Collected by- 


Nature of 
specimen. 


Remarks. 


396 




Fort Brown, Tex 

Wood's Holl, Mass. . . 

do 


,1858 

Sept. 26, 1874 

Sept. 4,1874 

. , 1874 

July 29, 1874 

1-— , 1874 

...do 


Major Emory 

United States Fish 
Commission, 
do 


Alcoholic . . . 
....do 

....do 




13355 






13366 






14044 






do 


....do 




141-J8 




do 


do 


....do 




14 --iS 


do 


do 


....do 




14^46 




do 


do 


....do 




ICO 13 




Wood's Holl, Mass. . . 
do 


July 2,1875 
....do 


do 


....do 




10015 




do 


....do 




1C014 




do 


....do . 


do 


....do 




iro <.3 




Blizzard's Bay 

Wood's Holl.Mass . . 

do 

do 


, 1875 

June 10, 1875 
Auk. 4, 1875 
Aug. 5,1875 
do 


do 


...do 




1G198 




do 


....do 


Ovarie.s, &c. 


10313 




. do 


...do 


Color sketch. 


1G3G3 


do 


....do 




103C7 




do 


do 


....do 




1C463 




Menonisha Bight, 

Mass. 
do 


Aug. 3,1875 

Sept. 5,1875 

,1876 

Apr. 2,1877 




do 


....do 




16596 




do 


.. .do 




167<)G 






do 


....do 


Cast No. 567. 


17927 




Saiut John's Eiver, 

Fla. 
do 


S. F. Baird 


....do 




18049 




do 


...do 




19042 




Florida 


, 1875 

....do 


G.Brown Goode... 
do 


....do 

....do 




19U43 




do 




]!044 




do 


....do 


do 


....do 




190J5 




do 


....do 


do 


...do 

....do 




19040 




do 


....do 


do 




19137 




Wood's Holl, Mass... 
do 


,1876 

,1875 

....do 


Vinal N.Edwards. 
United States I'ish 
Commi.ssion. 
do 


....do 

....do 

....do 




19359 






19360 


do 




19301 




do 


....do 


do 


...do 

....do 




19362 




do 


....do 


do 




19303 


do 


....do 


do 


....do 




19304 




do 


....do 


do 


....do 




19^57 


Potomac River 

Easiern Shore of Vir- 
ginia. 
Beaufort, N. C 


May — , 1875 
,1875 

, 1872 


Milner and Goode 
Prof. H.E.Webster 

Dr. H. C. Yarrow. . . 


...do 

....do 

....do 

...do 




19408 






19682 






19918 






20010 




Wood's Holl, Mass. . . 
do 


- ,1876 


Vinal N. Edwards. 
..do 


....do 

....do 




202^7 






2U516 




Menemsha Bight, 

Mass. 
Wood's Holl, Mass... 

...do 


, 1875 

Oct. 2, 1877 
Nov. 24, 1877 


United States Fish 

Commission. 
...do 


....do 

....do 




20603 






208d7 




...do 


....do 




10090 






United States Fish 
Commission, 
do 


Cast 

do 




10313 




do 


Aug. 1,1875 
1876 




16796 


....do 


....do 



















Photographs.— 25T, 258, 259, 260, 386, 387.— United States Fish CoMinssiON. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 



291 



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292 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



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+; " o fe t> •£; 'T -w'^ >; « -^ •>. 



HISTOEY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 



293 



•iiST '85 



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P-^-S 






294 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



•8i8T 



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HISTOEY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 



295 



APPENDIX G. 



A TABLE SHOWING COMPARATIVE AMOUNTS OF MENHADEN, MACKEREL, SHAD, ALE- 
WIVES INSPECTED IN THE STATE OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

MASSACHUSETTS INSPECTIONS. 



Years. 



Shad. 



Alewives. 



Menhaden. 



Mackerel. 



1804. 
1805. 

18U6. 

ieo7. 

1808. 
1809. 
1810. 
1811. 
1812. 
1813. 
1814. 
1815. 
1816. 
1817. 
1818. 
1819. 
Ih20. 
1821. 
1822. 
182;j. 
1824. 
1825. 
1826. 
1827. 
1828. 
1829., 
1330. 
Ir'Sl.. 
1832.. 
1833.. 
1634.. 
1835.. 
1836.. 
1837.. 
1838.. 
1839.. 
1840.. 
1841.. 
1842.. 
1843.. 
1844.. 
1845.. 
1846.. 
1847.. 
1848.. 
1849.. 
1850.. 
1851.. 
1852.. 
1853.. 
1854.. 
1855.. 
1856.. 
1857.. 
1858.. 
1859.. 
1860.. 
1861.. 
1862.. 
1863.. 
1864.. 
1865.. 
1866.. 
1867.. 
1868.. 
1869.. 
1870.. 
1871.. 
1872.. 
1873 . 
1874.. 
1875.. 
1876.. 
1877.. 



Barrels. 

57 

]8ri 

50" 
22 
147 
311 
201 
1, 443 
822 
822+ 
214" 
526 
379i 
40 !S 
244 
934 
5Di 
21| 
41 
63 
.531 
364" 
313 
28.} 
607 
653i 
152i 
1, 062^ 
105 
321 
3 
309A 
527" 
6.-)2 
310 
773 
856 
3, 910 
2,831 
P03 
1,679 
1,377 
517 
474 
228a 
331 
502 
ISOf 
195 
16§ 
22."S- 
238* 
265 
4731 
197A- 
421} 
487|| 
73^ 
61i 
5fi| 
20 
201 
lOi 
1033- 
2S 



12* 

21 

14-1 

651 

76i 

i 



Barrels. 
4,55li 

4, 0C.9* 

4, 518i 
7, C3ei 
1, 085" 
7,287 

6, 52 J J 

5, tSi'i 
4,971" 
1, liO^i 

673" 
1, 77U.1- 

1, 593" 
1,440 

998i 
792i 
47G|- 
644 
2, 1.55.V 

3, 967* 

4, 037" 
3, 653 

2, 938 
1, 864 
2,731 

3, 437 
3,030 
3, 036 

1, 755 

2, 206 
4,31.51 

5, 685i 
4,979 
1,182 

604 
2,709 
1,474 
2,840 

7, iro 

5, 554 

6. o03 
4,714 
2, 62C1 
3,843 
l,8Dt'i 
2, 1.j2 
1, 6C9 
1, 3.^8^- 
1,604 

1, 580 
1,645 
2,775 

2, 740* 
2, 497 
2, 895i 
2, 499^ 
1,604 

355 
82 U 
589 
390 
511 
592 
342J 
118 
87} 
C5| 
56 
424 
550 
30 i 
2091 
3884 
3571 



Barrels. 
3, 642.V 

3, 411j" 

4, n5ii 
3, 786| 
1,301) 
3,024 
2, 5->4 
7,118 

1, 155 

lOi 

2, 3U0 

3, 945 

4, 238 
4, 512 
4, 04U.\ 
1, 338" 

5.34 
237 
365 
9.H7 
697 
224 
164 
358 
2:'6 
97 
1,147 

r,oo 

4>0 
1, 608 
1,443 
1, 4f-'8 

4i;i 

1, 164 

10, 8<t 

1,427 

2, 138 

56:> 

8.";4 

476 



132 

137 

78 

137 



63 
203 



600 
300 



2,-.0 
425 



630 

6' 

"4 

250 



450 

229 



Barrels. 

7, 8.-)7i 
, 8, 53:ii 

8, 226i 

9, 305 " 

7, C29i 

8, 825' 
12, .552* 
17, 401 

.5,881 

3, 75:;i 

1, 339" 

16, 059^ 

31,269 

37, 362 

46, 3-:8 

100, 101 

11.5,641 

lll.OOil.V 

160, y!)4i 

145, OOii' 

191, 650* 

254, 384* 

1.58,7-1('J 

190, 30-ii 

237,3214 

2J5, 9774 

308, 10J* 

3c3, 548i 

22.>, 45i" 

222, 9.;2i 

252, 71' I 

r.)4, 800* 

174, 4i0j 

13-', 15'* 

1 10, 740i 

74, £6;i 
.50, 4j1.i- 
!f), 5 17" 

75, 543 
61,451 
8(1,3314 

202, 30;} 
17.0,3115 
251,9174 
300, 130 J 
208, 950 
242, Cli 
3.!9, 214i 
198,' 120 
133,3401 
135, 349J 
2il,950| 
214,312 
16^, 705t 
131, 60 \% 
99, 715} 
23.5, 685* 
194, 2-3S 
2G0, 8643 
300, 9 12 f% 
2-4, 35:1 
256, 7961 
231,69C/i5 
210, 3 14 jJ^ 
180, 05Gi J 
234, 2105 
318,5213 
2.59, 4 10 J 
181,9,)6p>5 
185, 748.V 
258, :i7!)it 
130, 0G2J^^ 
225, 94?-?g 
105, 097i 



296 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES 



APPENDIX H. 



LIST OF MANUPACTUKEES OF MENHADEN OIL AND GUANO, 1877. 

[Tho following table was furnisbed by Mr. Jasper Pryer.] 



Name of manufacturer. 



G. S. Allyn&Co 

KK H. Abuy & Co. (E. J. Corey, acent) 

Barren Island Manufacturing Company. 



William J. Brigbtman & Co . . . 

J.H.Bisbop 

Bristol Oil Works 

Brown's Cove Company 

Isaac Brown &, Co 

Nelson Burnett 

Cape Cod Oil Works (J.Cook) 

B. C. Cartwrigbt 

Joseph Church & Co 

G.H.Clark 

Charles Cook 

Captain C. Doughty 

W. y. Fithian&Co 

Robert A. Friend 

Ford, Avery &Co 

Fowler, Foot & Co 

Gallup & Holmes 

Gallup, Morgan & Co 

Albert Gray & Co 

Thomas F. Gray 

W.H.H. Glover 

Green Brothers 

Griffin &. Vail 

W.D.Hall 

F.J.Harker 

J. S. Havens 

Hawkins Brothers 

Hawkins Broth' rs 

W. H. H. Rowland 

Seaman Jones & Co 



E. K. Kelsey 

Kenniston, Cobb & Co 

Loud's Inland Oil Company 

Luce Brothers 

Maddocks' Oil- Works 

Manokin Oil-Works 

Anthony Manchester 

B. F. Manchester 

James Manchester 

The George W. Miles Company 

Morris & Fifield 

North American Oil-Works 

James E. Otis 

Pemaquid Oil- Works 

Erskine Pierce 

F.F. Pierce 

Joseph D. Parsons 

G. H. Payne 

Quiunipiac Fertilizer Company (H. L. Dud- 
ley, agent.) 

J. Harrison llaynor 

W. C. Piaynor ' 

Round Pond Oil- Works 

Amasa Simmons (Herman Smith, agent) . 

Cyrus H.Smith 

Smith, Green & Co 

Smith & Yarriugton 

SouTh Bav Oil Companv 

South St.George Oil-Woiks 

John South worth 

Sulf(dk Oil Company 

TuthilJ, French & Co 

George F. Tuthill 

Virginia Oil & Giiauo Company (O. E. 
Maltby, piesident.) 

Benjamin Waites , 

Waiey & Co 

Wells & Co 

Lsaac G. White 

Wilcox & Manchester 



Location of factory. 



Mystic Kiver, Conn 

Tiverton Four Corners, E. I. 
Bar. en Islanit, N. T 



Tiverton, R. I 

Madison, Conn 

Bound Pond, Me 

do 

Tiverton, II. I 

Southampton, N. Y 

Proviiicetown, Ma.«s 

Shelterlslind, N. Y 

Bound Pond, Me 

Ea t Marion, N.Y 

Tiverton Four Ci>ruers, E. I 

Somers Point, N.J 

Aiiiagaiiselt, N. Y... 

Biooklin, Me 

Tangier Island, Md 

South Bristol, Me 

Boothbay, Me , 

.... do : 

Round Pond, Me - 

Tiverton, R. I 

Soulhold.N. Y 

Amagansett, N. Y 

Port Monmouth,N. J 

Millenbeck, Va 

Hampton, Va 

Patcljopue, N. Y 

Shelter Island, N.Y 

Barren Lsland, N. Y 

Portsmouth, R. I 

Barren Island, N. Y 



Branford, Conn 

Booth Bay, Me 

Round Pond, Mo 

Niantic, Conn. 

Booth Bay, Mo 

Somer.set County, Md 

Tiverton Four Corners, R. I 

Somers Point, N. J 

Tiverton, R. I 

South Bristol, Me 

Somers Point, N. J 

Welltleet, Mass 

Tuekerton, N. J 

Bristol, Me 

Dartmouth, Mass 

Groenporr, N. Y 

Spriug.s, N. Y 

De°p H<)]e,Easthampton,N.Y 
Pino Island, Conn .". 



Greenport, N. Y , 

Westbampton, N. Y 

Round Pond, Mo 

Tiverton Four Corners, R. I 

Tuekerton, N.J , 

Sayville,N.Y 

, do 

, do 

South Saint George, Me 

Portsmouth, R. I 

Boothliav. Mo '. 

East South r.ri.stol. Me 

Greenport. N. Y 

Norfolk, Va 



Tiverton Four Corners, R. I 
P()(|nonnock Bridge, Conn.. . 

Simlli Hristo!, Mo 

Tiverton Four Corners, R. I 
do 



Winter address. 



Mystic River, Coun. 
Tiverton Four Cornets, R. I. 
58 Broad street. New York 
City. 
Tiverton, R. I. 
Madison, Conn. 
Round Pond, Me. 

Do. 
Tiverten, R. I. 
Southampton, N. Y. 
Provincetown, Mass. 
Shelter Island, N. Y. 
Tiverton, R. I. 
East Marion, N.Y. 
Tiverton Four Corners, R. L 
Somers Point, N. J. 
Southold, N. Y. 
Brooklin, Me. 

Guilford, Conn. 
Grotou, Conu. 

Do. 
Tiverton, R. L 

Do. 
Siuthold.N.Y. 
Davisville, R. I. 
Rivtrhead, N. Y. 
]\Iillenbeok, Va. 
Hampton, Va. 
M. riches, N. Y. 
Jamesport, N. Y. 

Do. 
Tiverton, R. 1. 
134 Third avenue. New York 

City. 
Clinton, Conn. 
Boothbay, Me, 
Bound Pond, Me. 
East Lyme, Coun. 
Boothbay, Me. 

Tiverton Four Corners, R. I. 
Somers Point, N. J. 
Tiverton, E. I. 
Milford, Conn. 
Somer's Point, N. J. 
Wellfleet.Mass. 
Saybrook. Conn. 
Bristol, Me. 
Dartmouth, Mass. 
Greenport, N. Y. 
Springs, N. Y. 
S ig Harbor, N. Y. 
New Haven, Conn. 

Greenport, N. Y. 
Westliampton, N. Y. 
Round Pond, Me. 
Tivei ton Four Corners, R. L 
Tuekerton, N. J. 
Savville, N. Y. 

Do. 

Do. 
South Saint George, Me. 
Fall Riv(r, Mass. 
Bosto.:, Mass. 
Greenport, N. Y. 

Do. 
Norfolk, Va. 

Tiverton Four Corners, R. L 
Poquonnock Bridge, Conn. 
Greenport, N. Y. 
Tiverton Four Corners, R. L 
Do. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 297 

List of manufacturers of menhaden oil and f/nano, 1877 — Continued. 



Name of manufacturer. 


Location of factory. 


Winter address. 




Mystio Bridge, Conn 

Fall River, Mass 


Mystic Bridge, Conn. 


Job T. Wilson 


W. W. Wii iner 




Henrv E. Wells 


Greenport, N. Y 


Gieenport, N. Y. 
Westbrook, Conn. 









APPENDIX I. 

PARTIAL LIST OF VESSELS EMPLOYED IN THE MEKHADEN FISHERY. 
STEAMERS. 



Name. 



Tonnage. 



Owner. 



Port of entry. 



Where fishins 




Job T.Wilson 

Leonard Brightman. 
Emma 



Hunter 

George H. Bradley 

Belle and llatlie 

Nellie E. Rawaon 

Geo. W. Hunt 

David H. Wilson 

Chance-Shot 

Lottie W. Merrill 

Paulina Wilbor 

Fearless 

Kingtisher 

A. M. Hathaway 

Joseph Church 

Ospray 

Jemima Boomer 

Bessie Sims 

George W. Humphrey 
Seven Brothers "... 



Grace 

E. T. DeBlois... 
Albert Brown. .. 
Wm. A. Wells . . 

G. Polhemus 

Aeronaut 

H. T. Sisson 

Gypsy Girl 

Daisy 

Jno. A. Morgan . 



Luce Bros ... 
Emily Foote . 



Wm. Spicer . 



Price 

Newins 

Lizzie 

Colburn 

Wm. Floyd 

E.S. Havens 

George T. Morse , 

Oak 

Cambria 



80 
80 
85 
70 
70 
20 



5 1^0 a 



60 
60 
701 



L. Maddocks 

do 

do 

do 

do 

, do 

J. S. Nickerson 

do 

Thomas Nichols 

do 

Pemaquid Oil (^omp'y 
Tuthill, French & Co.. 

do 

do 

Jonathan Bowrne.jr. 

, do 

do 

do 

do 

Job T. Wilson 

George Dovoll 

W. J. Bi ightman 

do..". 

do 

do 

Joseph Church & Co. . 

do 

do 

do 

do 

do 

do 

Charles Cook 

Lsaac D.Manchester.. 

E.T. DeBlois 

do 

do 

Gallup, Holmes & Co. . 

do 

do 

do 

Gallup, Morgan & Co . 

do 

Gallup & Manchester. 

do 

Luce Bros 

Fowler & Foote 

Geiirge W. Miles Co . . . 

do 

Quinuipiac Fertilizer. 

Company. 
Frank Price 



Boothbay, Me 

do 

do 

, do 

do 

do 

Hodgdon's Mills, Me. 

do 

Round Pond, Me 

do 



.ao 



do 

, do 

Hawkins Bros . 

do 

do 



South Bristol, Me . . 

do 

do 

Now Bedford, Mass . 

do 

do 

do 

do 

Fall River, Mass . . . 



Tiverton, R. I 

do 

do 

do 

do 

do 

do 

do 

do 

do 

do 

Tiverton Four Cor- 
ners, R. I. 

Newport, R. I 

Portsmouth, R. I , 

do 

do , 

Groton, Conn 

do 

do 

do 

do 

do 

do 

do 

East Lyme, Conn 

Guilford, Oonn 

Milford, Conn 

do 

New London, Conn... 



Greenport, N. Y 

do 

do 

do 

Jameeport, N. Y 

do 

do 

Greenport, N. Y 
do 



Maine. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 

Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Connecticut. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 

Long Island.' 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 



298 KEPOET OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



Partial list of vessels employed in the menltaden fishery — Continued. 
SAILING-VESSELS. 



Name. 


Tonnage. 


Owner. 


Port of entry. 


"Where fishing. 


E.B. Church 


40 
30 
25 
22 
11 
12 
12 
9 
32 
14 

l¥^ 
22 
19 
19 
17 
16 
17 
9 
22 


"W. J. Brightm an 


Tiverton, E. I 




Drasonet 


Do. 


Peiiikese 


do 


do 


Do. 


Willie E.Brightman... 


do 


do 


Do. 


Lou<; Island 


do 


do . 


Do. 


Gracie 


do 


do 


Do 


Sunbeam 


do 


do 


Do 


Dora 


do 


do 


Do. 


D.T. Vail 


Gurdon S. AUyn 

do 


Mystic, Conn 

do 




Hadley 


Do. 


Hepsie 


do 


do 


Do 




do 

do 


do 

do 


Do 


I'lash 


Do 


C. A. Sounds 

Annie 


do 

do 


do 


Do. 
Do 


J.TV.Luce 




East Lyme, Conn 

do 


Do 


Success 


do 


Do. 


Eust ic 


do 


do 


Do. 


Flirt 


do . .. 


do 


Do. 


Liza A. Luce 


do 


do 


Do. 


Nettie J. Luce 


do 


do 


Do. 


Nevada 


do .. . 


do 


Do. 


raciflc 


do 


do 


Do 


Haze 


do . 


do 


Do. 


Col. Morgan 


Greene Brothers 

do 


Greenport, N. T 

do 


Long Island. 
Do. 


M. A. Greene 




Allie 




do 


do 


Do. 


Pbcenix 




do 


do 


Do. 


Eluora 




do 


do 


Do. 


Annat Pitcher 




do 


do 


Do. 


Mistonax 




do 


do 


Do. 


Swan 


24^"^ 

Q 64 
-T(T7J 

9tU 

21 
18 
14 
14 
14 
14 
12 
12 
22 
22 
22 
12 
12 
12 
12 
12 
12 
12 
10 
1.5 
15 
15 
15 
15 
24 
19 
19 


Sterling Company 

do" 

do.. 


.do 


Do 


Marv II. Sisson 


do 


Do. 


Dauntless 


do 


Do. 


Bunker City 


..do 


do 


Do 


Eough & Ke'ady 


do 


do 


Do. 


Sarah 


rio 

do 


do 


Do 


Kate Eomer 


do 


Do 


Friendly 


do 


do. 


Do. 


Jehu Marcy 


do 


do 


Do. 




TVm. G. Fithian & Co 

do 

do 


Napeague 

......do 

do 


Do 


Eureka 


Do 


TVm. Downs 


Do. 


Jessie Smith 


do 


do 


Do. 


Native 


do 


. .do 


Do 


G.P.Horton 


do 


. . do 


Do. 


Eliza Maria 


do 


do 


I>0 




Hawkins Brothers 

do 

do 


Jamesport, N. Y 

do 


Do. 
Do. 


Peerless 


do 


Do. 


Sirocco 


do 

do 


do 


Do. 




do 


Do. 


Simoon 


do 


do 


Do. 




do 

do 


do 


Do 


Touug America 


do 


Do. 


Clyde 


do 


do 


Do 




do 

do 

do 


do 

do 


Do 


Pelican 


Do 




do ..-■ 


Do. 


Eob't Mills 


Seaman Jones 

<lo 


Barren Island, N. T. . . 
do 


Do 


Golden Pvule 


Do. 


Morning Light 


do 


do 


Do. 


N. M. Preston 


do 


. . do 


Do. 


McClane 


do 


do ... 


Do. 


Madeline 


do 


do 


Do. 


V. Koon 


do 


do 


Do. 


Eosa Belle 


do 


do 


Do. 


Lizzie Lane 


do 


do 


Do. 











HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN, 



299 



APPENDIX K. 

PRICES CURRKNT OF MENHADEN" OIL. 1871-1878. 



October 18... 
October 25 ... 
November 1. . 
Novembers.. 
November 15. 
November 22. 
November 29. 
December 6.. 
December 13. 
December 20. 
December 27. 



Januarys 

January 10... 

January 17 

January 24 

January 31 

February 7 . . 
February 14 . 
February 21 ., 
February 28 . 

March 6 

March 13 

March 20 

March 27 

Aprils 

April 10 

April 17 

April 24 

May 1 , 

May 8 

May 15 

May 22 

May 29 , 

June 5 

June 12 

June 19 

June 26 

Julys , 

July 10 , 

July 17 , 

July 24 

July 31 

August 7 

August 14 

August 21 

August 28 

September 4 . . 
September 11 
September 18 
September 25 

Octobers 

October 9 

October 10 ... 
October 23 .... 
October 30 ... 
November 6. . 
November 13.. 
November 20., 
November 27 . , 
December 4... 
December 11. 
December 18., 
December 25.. 



Date. 



January 1 . . 
January 8.. 
January 15. 



1873. 



Cents per 
gallon. 
41 to 42 
41 to4li 
40z^ to n' 
45 to 47A 
50" 
52 
521 to 55 
52| to 55 
55 
55 
53 to 55 



55 

to 57* 

to57i 

55 

to5C 

to 56 

55 

55 

54 

to 55 

to 54 

to .'54 

to 56 

60 

62J 

to 65 

to 64 

to 02 

CO 

to 60 

to 57* 

to 50" 

47 

to 42* 

to 42i 

to 42" 

to4i 

to 47 

to 45 

to 45 

to 48 

to 45 

44 

to 45 

to 44 

to 44 

to 45 

to 47 

to 52 

to 52 

51 

50 

to 52i 

50" 

50 

50 

to 55 

55 

56 

55 

to 56 

to 56 



50 



55 to 56 

58 
58 



Cents per 
qallou. 
SUJ to 4PJ; 
Sfi.V to 40* 
39^ to 40 
42.-V to 45 
47* to ;.0 
47,': to 50 
50' to 52 
50 t3 52J 
52.i 
5iff 
52| 



52i 
52| 
52i 
52J 
52i 
52* 
524- 
52i' 
52J- 
51 to52ii 



Cents per 
qailon. 
35 to 38 
35 to 38 
35 to 3n 
40 to 42i 
40 to 4 
45 to 47* 
47* to 50 
47* to 50 
47* to 50 
47* to 50 
47* to 50 



47ifo 
47* to 
47* to 
4-1 to 
47* to 
47* to 
47^ to 
47* to 
47* 10 
46' to 



51 


to 52 


45 


to 48 




51 


45 


to 48 


53 


to 54 

57* 

fiO" 

to 62i 


48 


to 50 






00 


55. 


to 57* 


60 


to 62 


55 


to 57 




60 


55 


to 57* 


58 


to 59 


55 


to 57 


54 


to 56 


50 


to 52* 


50 


to 52* 


45 


to 47* 


45 


to 47* 


40 


to 42* 


43 


to 44 




40 


37 


to 39 


36 


to 38 


37 


to 39 


36 


to 38 


40 


to 41 


37 


to 39 


45 


to 46 


43 


to 44 


42* 


to 44 


40 


to 42 


42* 


to 43 


40 


to 42 


42* 


to 43 


40 


to 42 


45 


to 46 


40 


to 42 




43 




40 




43 


3R 


to 40 


43 


to 44 




40 


42 


to 43 




40 


42 


to 43 




40 


43 


to 42 




40 


43 


to 44 


40 


to 42 


47 


to 49 


44 


to 46 




50 


45 


to 48 




50 


45 


to 48 


48 


to 49 


44 


to 46 


48 


to 49 


44 


to 46 


48 


to 49 


44 


to 40 


48 


to 49 


44 


to 46 


48 


to 49 


44 


to 40 


50 


to 52* 


46 


to 48 


53 


to 54 


50 


to 51 


54 


to 55 


52 


to 53 


52* 


to 55 


48 


to 50 


52* to 55 


48 


to 50 


52* to 55 


48 


to 50 


52* to 55 


48 


to 50 


50 


to 57 


52 


to 55 


50 


to 57 


52 


to 55 



o 



Cents per 
ga.lon. 

20 to 25 

20 to 25 

20 to 25 

25 to 30 

30 to 35 

30 to 35 

35 to 40 

35 to 40 

35 to 40 

35 to 40 

30 to 40 



to 40 
to 45 
to 45 
to 45 
to 45 
to 45 
to 45 
to 45 
to 45 
to 45 
to 45 
to 45 
to 45 
to 45 
to 45 
45 
45 
45 
45 
to47J 



to 30 
to 30 
to 30 
to 30 
to 35 
to 35 
to 38 
to 40 
to 40 
to 40 
to 40 
to 40 
to 40 
to 40 
to 42 
to 42 
to 50 
to 47 
to 47 
to 47 



Cents per 
gallon. 



60 to 62* 

58 to m' 

5i to 60 

58 to 60 

58 to 65 

58 to 65 

58 to 65 

60 to 65 

60 to 65 

60 to 65 



Cents per 
gallon. 



60 
60 
60 
60 

60 

60 
60 
63 
01 
64 
C4 
63 
61 
60 
60 
52 
45 
45 
45 
47 
47 
46 
47 
48 



45 to 47 
48 to 50 
48 to 50 



to 65 
to 65 
to 65 
to 62* 
60" 
to 61 
to 65 
to 65 
to 65 
to 66 
to 66 
to 66 
to 65 
to 63 
to 63 
to 61 
to 55 
to 50 
to 50 
to 47* 
10 49" 
to 49 
to 48 
to 50 
to 50 



55 to 57J 



300 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONEE OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



Prices current of menliadcn oil — Contiuned. 



Date. 


*5 
o 


o 

o 
O 


■i 

a 
o 
o 

a 


o 


o 

a 


■6 
o 

to 


1873. 


Cents per 
gallon. 
58 
58 
58 
60 
60 
60 
fiO 
60 
60 
60 

60 to 62 
CO 
GO 
60 

571 to 60 


Gents per 

gallon. 

56 to 57 

57 

57 

59 

59 

59 to CO 

59 to CO 

59 to CO 

59 to 60 

59 to 60 

60 

60 

58 to 60 

58 to 00 


Centsper 
gallon. 

52 to .55 
55 
55 
58 
58 


Cents per 
gallon. 

48 to 50 
50 
50 


CenUi per 
gallon. 


Centsper 
gallon. 

























































March 19 










March 26 










Apri 12 

April 9 

April 16 

April 23 


































April 30 .. 












55^ to 60 
55" to 57 A 
56" 
55 to .56 
52J to 55 
52^ to 55 












May 14 












May 21 












May 28 














50 

50 

51 

50 

49 to 50 

49 to 00 

40 to 42 

40 to 41 
39 to 40 
39 to 40 

39 to 40 

41 to 42 
44 to 45 
44 to 45 
44 to 45 
44 to 45 
44 to 45 

40 to 43 
40 to 42 

40 






















50 










51 

50 

50 

42J 

41" 

40 

40 

40 to 41 

41i to 45 

45 

45 

45 

45 

45 

43 to 45 

43 to 44 

40 to 41 








Jnly2 


47i 
474 
37J 
374 
374 
374 
374 
38 to 40 
40 to 43 
40 to 43 
40 to 43 
40 to 43 
40 to 43 
















July 16 











......... 






July 30 
















Au'fust 13 
















August 27 
















September 10 














September 24 . 
















October 8 































Date. 




a 

1 

o 
_o 

'o 


CS 

_o 

i 

a 

M 




1873. 
October 22 


Cents per 
gallon. 
40 to 41 
38 to 40 

37i 
33 to 35 
324 to 35 
33 to 35 
38 to 40 

41 
40 to 424 
40 to 424 
40 to 424 

40 to 424 


Cents per 
gallon. 
40 
374 
36 to 37 
3110 32 
30 to 32 
33 
371 
40 
40 
40 
40 

40 


Centsper 
gallon. 


Centsper 
gallon. 


October 29 














30 

29 

30 

35 

35 

35 to 374 

35 to 374 

35 to 374 

35 to 374 
























December 24 




December 31 




1874. 
January 7 




January 14 




January 21 


45 

44 to 45 

45 to 474 
45 to 471 

471 
45 to47| 
45 to 471 

45" 


45 

44 

45 

45 to 46 


40 to 424 
40 to 421 
424 to 43" 
421 to 45 
42| to 45 
424 to 45 
424 to 45 
421 to 55 




January 28 




February 4 




February 11 




February 18 . . 




Fobruary 25 

March 4. 








524 to 55 
52i to 55 


March 11 









HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 



301 



Prices current of menhaden oil — Contiuued. 



March 18 

March 25 

April 1 

April 8 

April 15 

April 22 

April 29 

May 6 

May 13 

May 20 

May 27 , 

Judo 3 

June 10 

June 17 

June 24 

July 1 

July 8 

July 15 

July 22 

July 29 , 

August 5 

August 12 

August 19 

August 26... 
Septemner 2 . 
September 9 . 
September 16 
September 23 
September 30 

October 7 

October 14 . . . 
October 21 ... 
October 28 ... 
November 4.. 
November 11. 
November 18. 
November 25. 
December 2 . . 
December 9 .. 
December 16 . 
December 23 . 
December 30 . 



Date. 



1874. 



Cents i)er 
cjcdLon. 
4-dh to 45 
43 to 45 
43 to 45 
41 to 42 
41 to 42 
41 to 42 
41 to 42 
40 to 42 
40 to 42 
40 to 41 
40 to 41 
40 
37 to 39 
37 to 39 
35 to 37 






Cents per 

gallon. 

52i to 55 

52i to 55 

5;J1 to 55 

52i to 55 

5!) 

50 

50 

48 to 50 

43 to So 
46 to 47 
46 to 47 

46 

44 to 45 
44 to 45 
42 to 43 



Centsper 
gallon. 



42 to 43 

40 to 41 

41 

41 

41 



35 



Centsper 
gallon. 
40 to 4? 
40 to 42 
40 to 4-2 
38 to 40 



32 to 34 



January 6 . . . 
January 13.. 
January 20. . 
January 27 . . 
February 3 . . 
February 10. 
February 17. 
February 24. 

March 3 

March 10 

March 17 

March 24 

March 31 

April 7 

April 14 

April 21 

April28 

May 5 

May 12 

May 19 

May 26 

Julie 2 



1875. 



37 to 39 
36 to 37 

35 to 36 

36 
36 
30 
36 
36 
36 
?.0 to 37 

36 to 37 
36 to 37 
36 to3S 
36 to 38 

39 to 40 

40 ti) 42 
42 to 43 
42 to 43 

41 to 42 
40 to 41 
40 to 41 
40 to 41 
40 to 41 
40 to 41 

40 

38 to 40 

38 to 40 

38 to 40 

40 

40 to 42 

40 to 42 

42 

42 

43 to 44 

43 to 44 
42 to 43 

41 to 42 
41 to 42 
41 

41 
41 

41 to 42 

44 to 40 

45 to 46 
44 to 45 

42 to 44 
40 to 41 
40 



43 to 45 

42 to 43 

41 to 42 

41 to 42 

40 to 42 

40 to 42 

40 to 42 

40 to 42 

40 to 42 

40 to 42 

40 to 42 

40 to 42 

40 to 42 

40 to 4 i 
44 

46 to 48 
48 to 50 
48 to 50 

47 to 49 
45 to 46 
45 to 46 
45 to 46 
45 to 46 
45 to 46 

45 to 46 
45 to 46 

45 to 46 
44 to 46 
44 to 46 
44 to 46 
44 to 46 
44 to 46 

44 to 46 

45 to 40 
45 to 46 
45 to 46 
45 to 46 
45 to 46 
45 to 4!i 
45 to 4o 
45 to 41) 
45 to 46 



49 to 50 
49 to 50 
49 to 50 
49 to 50 
47 to 48 



37 

30 

35 

35 

35 to 35 

35 to 35 

35 to 35 

35 to 35 

35 to 35 

35 to a' 

35 to 35 

35 to 3." 

35 to3fi 

35 to 36 

37 to 38 

38 to 39 

40 to 42 

41 to 42 
40 to 41 

36 to 40 
36 to 40 

39 to 40 
39 t'>40 
39 to 40 

38 to 40 
38 

38 

38 to 40 

40 
40 
4'> 
41 
41 
43 

42 to 43 

42 

40 to 41 
40 

40 
40 
40 
40 

41 to 42 

42 to 43 
41 to 42 
41 to 40 

39 to 40 
37 to 38 



34 to 36 

34 to 3fi 
32 to 34 
32 to 34 
32 to 34 
32 to 34 
3i to34 
32 to 34 
32 to 34 
32 to 34 
32 to 34 
32 to 34 
32 to 34 
32 to 34 

35 to 36 

36 to 38 
38 to 40 
38 to 40 
38 to 39 

37 to 39 
37 to 39 
37 to 39 
37 to 39 

37 to 39 
35 to 36 
35 to 36 

35 to 3fi 

35 to 36 

36 to 38 
36 to 38 
36 to 38 
36 to 38 
36 to 38 
36 to 38 
36 to 38 
36 to 38 
36 to 38 
36 to 38 
36 to 38 
36 to 38 
36 to 38 
30 to 38 

38 to 40 
38 to 40 
38 to 40 
25 to 40 
25 to 30 
25 to 30 



302 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONEE OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

Prices current of menhaden oil — Continned. 



.Tnne 9 

June 16 

June H?' 

Juno 30 

July 7 

July 14 

JulvSl 

JcVy 28 

August 4 

August 11 

August 18 

August 25. . . . 
September 1. . 
September 8. . 
rieiitember 15. 
September -22 
September 29. 

October G 

October 13.... 

October 20 

October 27. ... 
November 3 . . 
Xovember 10 . 
November 17 . 
November 24 . 
DecombtT 1 . . 
December 8 . . 
December 15 . 
December 22 . 
December 29 . 



January 5 . . 
January 12 . . 
January 19 . . 
January 20 .. 
Tebiuary 2 . . 
February 9 .. 
February J 6 . 
February 23 . 

March 1 

Marcli 8 

Marcb 15 

March 22.... 

Marcb 29 

April 5 

April 12 

April 19 

April 26 

May 3 

May 10 

May 17 

Ma'v24 

May 31 



J uuo 7 

June 14 

Juno 21 

June 28 

July 5 

July 12 

July 19 

July 26 

August 2 

August 9 

August IC 

August 23 

August 30 

September 6 . . 
September 13. 
Septembfr 20. 
Sejitember 27. 

Oet:)ber4 

October 11 

October 18.... 



Date. 



1876. 



Cents per 
gallon. 
38 to 39 
38 to 39 
38 to 39 
36 to 37 
36 to 37 
35 to 36 
35 to 36 
35 to 36 
34Jsto35 

33 
32 to 33 
32 to3-Jl 

32" 

32 
32 to 33 
32 to 33 

33 
34 to 35 
34 to 35 

36 
40 to 41 
40 to 41 
40 to41 

40 to 41 

41 to 42 
•J2 to 44 

42 to 44 

44 to 43 

45 to 471 
45 to47i 



to 50 
to 50 
to 50 
to 50 
to 50 
to 50 
to 50 
to 50 
to 50 



to 48 

to 48 

to 48 

to 48 

to 47 

45 

45 

45 

45 

35 

35 

to 36 

to 36 

to 37 

to39 

to 38 

to 38 

to 38 

to 35? 

to 34' 

to 33 

33 

33 

33 

to 34 

to 35 

to 35 

to 35 

to 35 

35 

to 30 

to 45 



Cents per 
gallon. 
44 to 45 
44 to 45 
44 to 45 
44 to 45 

41 to 45 
44 to 45 
44 to 45 

42 to 44 
40 to 41 
38 to 40 
38 to 40 
38 to 40 

38 
38 
38 
38 
3,H 
38 
38 

40 to 42 
44 to 45 
44 to 45 
44 to 45 

41 to 45 
46 to 48 
46 to 48 
46 to 48 

48 
46 to 48 
46 to 48 



to 50 
to 52 
to 53 
to 52 
to 52 
to 52 



n 



Cents per 

gallon. 

£0 

50 

50 

50 

49 to 50 

49 to 50 

49 to 50 

47* to 48 

45 to 46 

44 to 46 

44 to 46 

44 to 46 

44 to 45 

44 to 45 

44 to 45 

44 to 45 

44 to 40 

44 to4(i 

44 to 46 

50 

52 to 54 

rej to 54 

52 .\ to 55 
5-Mo55 
52.V to 55 
525 to 55 
52.V to 55 

54 to 55 

55 to 56 
55 to 56 



55 to 56 

55 to 00 

55 to 60 

55 to 60 

55 to 60 

55 to 60 

to 52 I 55 to 58 

to 52 55 to 58 

to 52 55 to 58 



to52J 
to52i 
to 5Ci 
to 5-1 
to 52A 
to 5u" 
to 50 
to 50 
to 50 
to 44 
tj41 
to 41 
to 41 
to 44 
to 46 
to 46 
to 46 
to 46 



46 



40 
40 
40 
40 
40 
40 
44 
to 48 



to 56 
to 56 
to 56 
to 50 
to r'5 
to 53 
to 53 
to 53 
to 53 
to 50 
to 47?, 
to 47?, 
to 4-. A 
to 47?, 
to 47,1 
to47A 
to 471 
to 47,i 
to 50" 
to 50 

to no 

to 50 
to 47 
45 
45 
45 
45 
45 
45 
45 



48 to 50 



Cents per 

gallon. 

hi to 38 

37 to 38 

37 to 38 

35 to 30 

35 

35 

35 

341 to 35 

33' to 34 

33 

32 

32 

31 

31 

31 to 32 

32 

32 to 33 
3i to 33 
32 to 33 
34 to 36 

40 
4'J 
40 
40 

40 to 41 

41 to 42 

41 to 42 

42 to 43 

43 to 44 
43 to 44 



45 to47A 

45 to47A 

45 to47i 

45 to 47^" 

45 to47| 

45 to 47* 

45 to47| 

45 to 471 

45 to 47" 



Cents per 
gallon. 

25 to 30 

25 to 35 

25 to 35 

25 to 33 

25 to:-.3 

25 to 3 J 

25 to 33 

25 to 34 

25 to 33 

25 to 30 

23 to 31 

25 to 3 1 

i:5 to 30 

25 to 30 

20 to 30 

20 to 30 

20 to 30 

20 to 30 

20 to 30 



45 to 46 
45 to 46 
45 to 46 

45 to 46 
44 to 46 

44 
44 
44 
44 

46 to 48 
34 to 35 
34 to 35 

34 to 35 

35 

37 to 38 

35 to 36 
35 to 36 

35 to 36 
34 to 35 
3 -'A to 33 

32 
32 
32 
32 
33 
33 
33 
33 
33 
33 to 34 

36 to 37 

38 to 40 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 303 

Prices current of menhaden oil — Continued. 



Date. 



October 25 

November 1 . . 
November 8 . . 
November 15. 
November 22 . 
November 29 . 
December 6 .. 
December 13 . 
December 20 . 
December 27 . 



January 3 . . . 
January 10 ... 
January 17 ... 
January 24 ... 
January 31 ... 
February 7 ... 
February 1-1. . 
February 21 . 
February 28. . 

Marcli 7 

March 14 

March 21 

March 28 

April 4 

April 11 

April 18 

April 25 

May 2 

May 9 

May 10 

May 23 

May 30 

June 6 

Judo 13 

June 20 

June 27 

July 4 

duly 11 

July 18. 

July 25 

Aupuat 1 

August 8 

August 15 

Angu.st 22 

August 29 

September 5 . . 
September 12. 
Septem!)er 19. 
September 26 . 

October 3 

October 10 

October 17 

October 24 

October 31 

November 7 . . 
November 14 . 
November 21 . 
November 28 . 
December 5 .. 
December 12 . 
December 19 . 
December 26 . 



1877. 



Ce7its per 
gallon. 
42 to 45 
42 to 43 
40 to 42 
40 to 42 
40 to 42 
40 to 42 

40 to 42 

41 to 42 
41 to4;i 
41 to 42 



January 2 



1878. 



to 42 
to 43 
to 45 
to 45 
to 45 
to 45 
to 43 
to 42i 
to 42J 
to 42" 
to 42 
to 42 
to 42 
to 41 
to 41 
to 40 
to 38 
38 
38 
38 

37: 
t037:J 

to 35 

to 35 

to 35 

to 35 

to 34 

to 34 

to 34 

to 34 

to 34 

34 

3f!; 

3fi^ 

38 

38 

to 45 

45 

45 

45 

45 

45 

to 40 

to 40 

to 46 

45 

45 

45 

45 

46 

to 47 

to 47 



JB 



46 to 47 



Cents per 
gallon. 
46 to 48 
45 to 40 
45 to 40 
45 to 40 
45 to 40 
45 to 40 
45 to 40 
45 to 40 
45 to 46 
45 to 46 

45 to 46 

45 to 40 

46 TO 48 

40 to 48 
46 to 48 

46 to 48 
45 to 46 
44 to 45 
41ito45 
42* to 44 
42 to 43 
42 10 43 
42 to 43 
42 to 43 
42 to 43 
42 to 4 

41 to 4 

4' 

4 

4; 

4 

4 

4: 

42 

38 to 40 

38 to 40 

38 to 40 

38 to 40 

38 to 40 

38 to 40 

38 to 40 

38 to 40 

33 to 40 

38 to 40 

40 to 42 

40 to 42 

44 to 40 

44 to 46 

40 to 47 

40 to 47 

40 to 47 

40 to 47 

47 to 48 
47 to 48 
47 to 48 
47 to 48 
47 to 48 
47 to 48 

47 to 48 

48 to .50 
48 to 50 
48 to 50 



W 



Cents per 
qaUon. 
4S to 50 
48 to 50 
48 to 50 
50 to 52 
50 to 52 
50 to 52 
50 to 52 
50 to 52 
50 to: 2 
50 to 52 

50 to 52 

50 to 52 

52 

52 

52 

52 

52 

50 to 52 

50 to 52 

48 to 50 
■47 to 49 

47 to 49 
47 to 49 
47 to 48 
47 to 48 
45 to47J 

42 J to 45 

43 to 40 
43 to 40 
45 to 40 
45 to 46 
45 to 46 
45 to 40 
45 to 46 
45 to 40 
45 to 40 
45 to 40 
45 to 46 
45 to 46 
45 to 40 
45 to 40 
45 to 40 
45 to 40 
45 to 40 
47 to 48 
47 to 48 

49 to 50 

50 to 52 

51 to .52 

52 to 53 
52 to 53 
52 to 53 
52 to 53 
52 to 53 
52 to 53 
52 to 54 
52 to 54 

52 to .54 

53 to 54 
53 to 54 
52;\ to 53i 
52* to 53| 

52i to 53^ 






o 



Cents per 

gallon 

38 to 40 

40 

38 to 40 

38 to 40 

38 to 40 

38 to 40 

38 to 40 

40 

40 

40 

40 

40 

40 

40 

40 

40 

40 to 41 

40 to 41 

40 to 41 

40 

38 to 39 

38 to 39 

38 to 39 

38 to 39 

38 to 39 

35 to 30 
3:^ to 34 

34 to .30 
30 to 37 
30 to 37 
30 to 37 

30 

34 

34 

34 

31 

32i 

32i 

324 

32;i 

32i 
33i 

36 to .35 

35 to .36 
35 to 36 
35 to 30 
38 to 40 
42 to 44 
42 to 44 

44 
44 
44 
44 
44 
44 
44 
44 to44i 
44 to 44.' 

44 to44| 

45 to 45i 
45 to 40 
45 to 40 

45 to 40 



Cents per 

gallon. 

35 to SO 

36 

30 

36 

36 

36 

34 to 30 

34 to 36 

34 to 30 

34 to 36 

34 to 30 
34 to 36 
34 to 36 
34 to 36 
34 to 36 
34 to 36 
34 to 30 
34 to 36 
34 to .'?6 
34 to 30 
34 to 35 
34 to 35 
34 to 35 
34 to 35 
34 to 35 
32 to 34 
30 to 32 
30 to 32 
32 to 34 
32 to 34 
32 to 34 
32 to 34 
32 to 34 
32 to 34 
32 to 34 
32 to 34 
30 to. 32 
38 to 32 
30 to 32 
30 to 32 
30 to 32 
30 to 32 
34 . to 35 
34 to 35 
34 to 35 

34 to 35 

35 to3s 
40 to 42 
40 to 42 
40 to 42 
40 to 42 
40 to 42 
40 to 42 
40 to 42 
40 to 42 
40 to 42 
40 to 42 
40 to 42 
40 to 42 
40 to 42 
40 to 42 
40 to 42 

40 to 42 



304 EEPOKT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 
CURRENT WEEEXY REPORTS OF THE MENHADEN OIL MARKET FROM 

1871-1878. 
[Compiled from "Oil, Paiut, and Drug Reporter," of New York, W. O. Allison, editor.} 

1871. 

October 18. 

Menhaden with many small lots arriving during the latter part of last 

xveek reacted from the advanced prices, and some sales were made at 

a decline of fally Ic. per gallon ; the close is, we think, rather more 

steady, with most of the arrivals bought up. Sales are 68 bbls. prime 

white, at 41ic.; 112 bbls., at 41c.; 90 bbls., at 40^0.; 110 bbls., at 40c.; 

GL bbls. light, at 41c.; 125 bbls., on p. t. ; 150 bbls. fair, at 39c.; 50 

prime, at 40^-c. ; 12 bbls. common, at 30c.; 30 bbls. Gurry, at 20 ® 

25c.; and 50 bbls. re-pressed choice, at 45 © 48c.; also 7,000 lbs. foots 

for export, at 4^c., and 300 tons of guano, at $15, delivered. 

OCTOBER 25, 1871. 

Menhaden has been scarce all the week ; there has been a demand for 
more than could be obtained ; 250 bbls. sold at the close for export at 
41c., and in lots, 300 bbls. for home use, at 41 © 41-}c. for choice light, 
and 39 <a) 40c. for choice brown. 

November 1. 

Menhaden has been in rather light demand, and with free receipts of 
choice new fall made i^rices lower at the close, with several lots offering 
on the market. The sales are 280 bbls. on private terms ; 50 bbls. 
selected light last week at 42c.; 101 bbls. choice, at 40^c.; 98 do. at 
40|c. ; 25 bbls. brown, at 39ic. ; and a mixed lot of 30 bbls., at 39c. 

November 8. 

Menhaden has been in steady, fair demand during the past week, and 
the close is very much higher and somewhat unsettled ; 45c. is bid 
choice. The sales during the past week are as follows: 378 bbls. prime, 
at 40c.; 150 bbls. good, at 39^c.; 200 bbls. choice, at 40Ac.; 100 bbls. to 
arrive, at 41c. ; 150 bbls. at the factory, at 40c. ; 75 bbls. for export, at 
41c. ; 200 bbls., at 41^c.; and 113 bbls., at 40^c.; and 250 bbls. pressed 
on private terms. 

November 15. 

Menhaden has been fairly active and more excited than any other kind 
on our list; prices have advanced, and at the close the tendency is 
apparently upward, though we hear of one lot of choice offered for sale 
at 50c. Sales are 150 bbls., at 47ic. : 100 bbls., at 50c. ; 190 bbls., at 
50c. ; 25 bbls. on private terms, and 131 bbls. on private terms. 

November 22. 
Menhaden has continued to move freel}", and prices have still further 
advanced. If a party wants to buy, 52^c. is the lowest price for a good 
lot. At the close 100 bbls. on dock were offered at this price, without a 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 305 

buyer, and will be put in store — 50c. was bid. All the sales, however, 
of prime lots made this week have been at this price. We notice sales 
of 25 bbls. inferior at 4:7^c. ; 200 bbls. last week, at 50c. or less; 60 
bbls. choice, at 53^c. ; 100 bbls., at 52Jc.; 120 bbls., at 52ic. ; 50 bbls. 
choice, at 52^c., and 100 bbls., at 52|c. Pressed menhaden meets with 
a good demand; 50 bbls. sold at GOc. Jobbing lots con be sold easily 

at this price. 

November 29. 

Menhaden has been more active and rules very strong ; at the close 

52.^c. has been refused, but we hear of no lots from first hands having 

brought more. The sales of crude are 185 bbls, at 52^c. ; 200 bbls., 

at 52c.; 38 bbls., 27 bbls., 22 bbls., and 25 bbls., at 52Jc. ; also, 25 bbls. 

at higher price, not given. Pressed is generally quoted at 60c., though 

some parties are still offering for less. 

December 6. 

Menhaden has ruled quiet the past week. We know of no actual 
sale from first hands at more than 52.^c., though an outside party is 
said to have paid 53c. ; some of the largest holders are not offering 
their stock at the present. The sales are in all 250 bbls. on spot at 52Ac. 
and 114 bbls. to arrive at same i)rice. Pressed is held higher, though 
some parties who had some before the advance are underselling the 
regular trade. 

December 13. 

Menhaden is very firm. There are few parties willing to sell at less 
than 55c. A sale was rumored to-day at 54c., but we know of no par- 
ties willing to pay more than52|c. ; 100 bbls. sold here at this price, 
and in Boston 10,000 gallons, for export, at 52^c., and 100 bbls. for home 
use, at 53ic. 

December 20. 

Menhaden has been very quiet during the past week; dealers are 

taking all lots that are offering cheap, and prices remain steady, though 

no full lots of choice have reached our highest quotations. The only 

sales we hear of are 120 bbls. at 52^ © 53c., and 77 bbls. on i)rivate 

terms below the market. 

December 27. 

Menhaden has been very quiet ; those who hold stock look for full 

prices, but buyers will not pay the advance for full lots. We hear of 

no sales. There is a report that some of the menhaden exported is on 

the way to this market again. We were informed by a party having 

a large lot in the English market that if it did not improve in price 

there, he would have his shipped back to this market again; if the oil is 

on shipboard, this can be done at a small profit, taking the markets as 

they are quoted at present. 

187^. 

January 3. 

Menhaden has improved in tone again; buyers have been forced to 
pay the prices demanded by holders, and the tendency is again upward. 
20 E 



306 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

We liear of a sale of 108 bbls. prime light at 55c., and 50 bbls. not 
sweet at 52^c. There is a good demand for pressed, and the choicest is 
held at higher prices, with full sales. We note 75 bbls. sold at 65c., 
20 bbls. brown at GOc, and a small lot at 58c. 

January 10. 

Menhaden oil meets with very little demand; the ideas of holders are 
above those of buyers, and we have no business to report; there are ru- 
mors but no actual sales of full lots that we can learn of. The demand 
for pressed fish is fair ; 25 bbls. brown sold at GOc, and 25 bbls. light 
at 63c. 

January 17. 

Menhaden rules quiet ; to sell freely lower prices would have to be 
accepted, but to buy full prices would have to be paid. No sales of lots 
are reported. 

January 24. 

Menhaden rules about steady, though if forced on the market would 
not command the highest quotation. The feeling is, however, that the 
stock is small and all will be needed. We hear of the sale of 50 bbls. 
prime, at 55c., and 112 bbls. Southern, part dark, at 52c. cash. There 
is a fair demand for strained and 25 bbls. are reported sold at G3c. 

January 13. 
Menhaden is steady in prices, the only large lot held, 600 bbls., was at 
New Bedford, which has been sold to a manufacturer there at a price 
equal to 55c., delivered in this city, the lot of Southern reported in our 
last has been rejected; at the close to-day we hear of the sale of 120 
bbls. on private terms. Strained sells in a small way, if choice, at 65c., 
in full lots at 60 ® 02^c., and brown GOc. in a small way. 

February 7. 
Menhaden is held confidently, but there is not much doing. We hear 
of no full lots having changed hands. 

February 14. 
Menhaden is quiet and there are no sales making ; we have only heard 
during the past week of a few lots, perhaps in all 50 bbls., that changed 
hands at 55c. The stock is pretty firmly held by a few parties. 
Pressed oil is in fair demand and firm. 

February 21. 
Menhaden is dull to buy; the market is firm, but to sell it is weak, 
though at a decline of 2i ® 5c. the whole market might be cleared of 
stock ; no sale of lots for a week. 

February 28. 
Menhaden has ruled quiet during the past week, and as there have 
been no sales for some time past, the feeling has been hardly so firm ; 100 
bbls. choice sold at 54c., the other kinds have met with no sales since 
our last. 



history of the american menhaden. 307 

March 6. 
Menbaden has been quiet for a loug time past, and holders appear 
more anxious to sell. We hear that sales have been made of 300 bbls. 
j)rime, on private terms, though understood to be below 54c. 

March 13. 

]\Ieuhaden has been quiet ; the dealers are doing very little, and will 
not buy unless at a decline from former prices. The sales are 120 bbls. 
light at 53c. We note the arrival of the first lot of the oil returned from 
the other side, some 8,000 galls ; there are about 42,000 galls, more on 
the way. Pressed fish oil meets with a slow sale. 

March 20. 

Menhaden has moved a little more freely, but the sellers have been 
forced to accept lower prices ; the close is, however, considered more firm, 
as the Boston combination may have some efiect on this market. The 
only sale we hear of is a lot of 150 bbls. prime, at 52c. cash. There is 
a little better demand for i^ressed, and we note 30 bbls. sold at GO^c, 
and 50 bbls. at GOc. 

March 27. 

Menhaden has been bought quite largely during the past week, which 
has had the effect of advancing prices ; the sales are about 550 bbls., at 
51 ® 55c., the latter for choice light, though at the close the highest 
price is said to have been bid for brown. Pressed meets with a fair 
sale ; 2,500 gallons sold at 59 ® Glc, the lowest price for inferior, and 
1,500 gallons choice winter at Glc. 

April 3. 

Menhaden oil remains firm, and 58c. would be low for nice oil; some 
lots might be obtained at 55c., but it would be off in color. The com- 
bination is having some effect, and how long it will last is more than 
can be predicted. 

April 10. 

Menhaden is scarce ; there was too much shipped, which has left the 
market bare. Handsome is held at GOc. 

April 17. 

Menhaden is firmer, and with the failure of the seal-fishery all grades 
of fish-oil will be in demand at advanced rates; GOc. for clean, hand- 
some parcels might be obtained, and some ask an advance on this price. 

April 24. 
Menhaden is quiet but firm ; the principal holder asks G5c., but some 
others are quoting G2c. There have been no sales, but in New Bedford 
400 bbls. sold to go to Boston, at GOc. 

May 1. 
Menhaden remains scarce & firm. GO © 62c. for handsome. There was 
too much shipped. 

May 8. 
Menhaden, as reported at the date of our last, is weak. W^e reported 
the market "less buoyant" last week and quoted choice at GO ® G2c. in 



308 EEPOET OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

our prices current. We have been accused "bearing" the market on 

that occasion, but we think our accuser could not have been posted, lor 

the very choicest lots in market were ofiered the day of our issue at 60c., 

and not being able to get that price, asked for a bid of 69c. We have 

heard of no sales. 

May 15. 

Menhaden is quiet, and the feeling is easy ; holders do not force sales, 

but are open for offers j buyers are generally very backward. The 

sales reported are 150 bbls. in New Bedford, and 40 bbls. here at GOc, 

though other choice lots are offered freely at this price. There have 

been sales of pressed at 62c. 

May 23. 

Menhaden is unsettled and lower. No one quotes higher than 57^c., 

and no one will bid 55c. There is considerable offering. We hear of 

no sales of lots since our last. 

May 29. 

Menhaden oil of the new catch is arriving more freely, and prices are 

lower at the close, with buyers holding off'. There have been sales of 

150 bbls. new at about 50c., but at the close we do not think that more 

than 47^c. could be obtained ; thus far the oil we have seen is of very 

good quality, and not inferior, as some parties anticipated it would be. 

June 5. 
Menhaden oil is lower ; the receipts are quite free, and the tendency 
of prices have been steadily downward; the quality coming to this mar- 
ket has been very good for the first part of the season. The sales are 50 
bbls. at 47c. ; 43 bbls. at 45c., prompt cash ; 60 bbls. at 45c. ; 45 bbls. at 
44Jc., and 50 bbls. at 44c., at which the market closes not very strong; 

inferior was offered and refused at 40c. 

June 12. 

Menhaden oil ; nothing has been done in Maine as yet. 

June 19. 

Menhaden, following our last, was in active request for Boston ac- 
count, and, to some extent, for shipment, which took about all the sur- 
l^lus offerings and checked the downward tendency, and a firm tone now 
prevails. The fishermen are holding back as much as possible, and 
toward the close the run of fish is falling off. They also say that at 40c. 
per gallon, delivered in this market, there is no margin for moking oil. 
The sales are 200 bbls. at 38c. ; 600 bbls. at 39 © 40c. ; 200 bbls. at40c. ; 
48 bbls. at 40 © 40^c., and 75 bbls. taken to account at 40c. 

June 26. 

Menhaden has been less plenty this week than last, and receivers 
have been able to get an advance on prime lots of 1 cent per gallon, 
and the close is steady at 41 cents. From Maine we hear that fish are 
very scarce, and that the Boston trade are likely to draw on this market 
for their supply for some time yet; besides, the fishermen, we believe, 
entered last fall into an arrangement not to sell below 60c. till the 15th 
of July. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 309 

July 3. 
Meuliadeu has suddenly become scarce, aud with some dealers short; 
the price has advanced as rapidly again as it declined. At the close we 
hear of one lot, about 45 bbls. light, offering, on which 47c. is said to 
have been bid and refused ; the holder asks 48c. If any lots should be 
offered, this price could not be obtained, as shippers cannot pay more 
than 41c. We learn from Maine that the fish are more abundant, but 
do not yield largely. 

July 10. 

The market for menhaden has ruled quite irregular since our last ; 
the arrivals at the close, however, are more free and prices are lower, 
but more uniform. There have been some lots taken for shipment, and 
the low prices ruling a short time ago will hardly again be reached. 
The sales are 142 bbls. prime at 43c. ; 200 bbls. at 415c.; and 450 bbls., 
part for shipment, on i)rivate terms, though some at considerably above 
the prices obtained for the above lots. There is a fair trade for pressed 
at 48c. 

July- 17. 

The market for menhaden at the close is firm, owing to light arrivals 
this week. The trade talk a small catch, and say prices will probably 
rule higher. Last week there were sales of 200 bbls. at 43^c. for prime 
aud 42c. for inferior, and 70 bbls. prime light at 44 ® 45c. The demand 
for strained is fair. 

July 24. 

Menhaden has been in rather moderate supply during the past week, 
and prices rule firm. At the close the advices from the fishermen are 
that they are catching more fish, and the yield is good. We note sales 
of 05 bbls. choice light at 43 c, and 50 bbls. brown at 40c. 

July 31. 

There has been more activity in menhaden than any other kind of oil 
on our list. The amount coming forward is small, and barelj'^ enough 
to supply the wants of the trade, causing prices again to advance. 
Heretofore the yield of the fish has been very small, but at the close to- 
day we hear that the run has suddenly become fat, and above an ordi- 
nary yield is now obtained. The sales are 104 bbls. choice brown at 46c. ; 
50 bbls. do. at 4Cc. ; 40 bbls. racked at 46c. ; 20 bbls. gurry at 25c. ; 25 
bbls. strictly winter pressed at 55c.; and a rumor, which, however, was 
not confirmed, of a lot of choice crude at 47c. 

August 7. 

Menhaden this week has been in better supply, and is quoted very 
much lower at the close. The catch is better and the yield fair for this 
season of the year; receipts since our last have been about 200 bbls., 
which sold at from 43c. for nice brown to 46c. for choice light ; at the 
close we hear that a lot of 400 bbls. prime brown was offered, to arrive, 
at 43c. 



310 keport of commissioner of fish and fisheries. 

August 14. 

The market for menhaden has been quiet, and with dealers less 
anxious to buy ; the close is easy at about 43c. for light brown. The 
high j)rices for freights will not allow of any shipping business at 
present ruling quotations. The sales reported for the week are 417 bbls. 
at 43 ® 44c., including a resale of 75 bbls. at the outside price; 200 
bbls. to arrive at 42c., and a lot of 250 bbls. choice light in New Bedford 
some time since, not before reported, at 45c. 

August 21. 

Menhaden at the moment is scarce ; there are orders here at 43c., 
but there is no stock to fill them ; considerable lots are reported on the 
way, and this keeps prices from advancing materially, though we may 
quote at least Ic. better as the outside price. 

August 28. 

Menhaden oil remains as last reported. Prices are above views of 
buyers, but the manufacturers will not yield, and the result is that the 
oil will pass into parties' hands that will make advances on the oil. This 
locks the oil for the present. 

September 4. 

Menhaden has not been plenty since our last, and a rather firmer tone 
is reported at the close. We hear of the arrival of a lot of 275 bbls. and 
of about 750 bbls. more on the way. The sales are 400 bbls., part to 
arrive, at 44c. for choice light, and 75 bbls., at 43c. for brown, and 40c. 
for inferior. The fishermen report a fair catch, and we hear that the 
yield is increasing both here and in Maine. 

September 11. 

Menhaden is firm at the close, with moderate offerings. Last week 
the receipts were full, but were readily taken at steady prices. This 
week there have been no arrivals, and the tone firmer; probably 45c. 
could be obtained for a choice lot The sales reported since our last are 
300 bbls., at 44c. ; 75 bbls., at 44c. ; 1G8 bbls., at 43J © 44c. ; 90 choice 
and 70 do., at 44^c. 

September 18. 

Menhaden rules firm, with a small amount arriving; sales 250 bbls. 
fair brown, at 44c.; 115 bbls. on private terms; 36 bbls. choice light, 
at 47c., and 100 choice tanked, at 48c. ; also a rumor of 1,000 in New Bed- 
ford, at 50c. 

September 25. 

Menhaden has advanced since our last about 4c. per gallon, owing 
to the small supply offering on the market. Sales have been made of 
150 bbls., at 49 ® 50c. for light brown and choice; 38 bbls. brown, at 
49c.; 30 bbls. and 50 bbls., at 50c., at which the market closes strong, 
with exporters willing to pay this i^rice. 

October 2. 

Menhaden oil has not arrived freely, and the price is rather stronger. 
Since our last, sales have been made of 150 bbls., at 50c., and to-day 9j 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEX. 311 

cargo arriv^ed, and about 350 bbls. sold, at 50c., as it run, and a lot of 
39 bbls. brown, at 50c., which is the price for any kind of good oil. 

October 9. 

Menhaden has been quite active, and rules very firm ; sales are 80 
bbls. prime at 50c. ; 82 bbls. at 52c. ; 170 bbls. at 50^c. ; 150 bbls., to 
arrive, at 50 ® 50ic. ; and 425 bbls. on j^rivate terms. Most of the above 
lots were very choice light oils. 

October 16. 

Menhaden has not come in so freely, still there is rather more offering, 
and buyers are holding off, and some report the market lower. There 
is some Maine offering, but we know of 48c. having been refused for it. 
We only note the sales during the week of 100 bbls. prime light at 50c., 
and 150 bbls. fair brown at 45c. The fall catch is reported better. 

October 23. 

Menhaden rules steady for light oil, and all that has come forward 

Las been taken at 50c. ; we note sales of 150 bbls. at this price ; 100 

bbls. Maine oil at 52^c. ; 100 bbls. do. at 53^c. ; 100 bbls. pressed at 55c., 

and 30 bbls. do. at 57c. 

October 30. 

Menhaden is a little easier, though in good demand ; sales are 189 
bbls. prime at 49c. -, 150 bbls. at 49c. ; 100 bbls. at 50c., thirty days ; 100 
bbls. at 50c., ca»h ; and 55 bbls. at 50c. cash. 

November 6. 

Menhaden has ruled quiet but firm, with but few lots arriving. The 
only sales since our last are 100 bbls. at 50c. and 90 bbls at 49c. 

November 13. 

Menhaden is not arriving freely, and the market is very strong, with 

all the good oil that is offered taken at 49c., though most holders ask 

50c. Sales are 278 bbls. at 49c. 

November 20. 

Menhaden is higher, with sales at an advance ; the market is, how- 
ever, somewhat unsettled. The stock in Boston, about 8,000 bbls., was 
burnt. Sales 280 bbls. and 100 bbls. on p. t., and last week 75 bbls. 
at 50Jc. 

November 27. 

Menhaden oil has been actively dealt in, closing firm at an advance. 

The sales and resales have been fully 2,000 bbls. from 51c. up to 55c., 

which latter price is said to have been bid at the close for light oil and 

refused. 

December 4. 

Menhaden has continued firm and is quiet. The stock is now pretty 

well out of first hands. Sales of 140 bbls. at 44c., and GOO bbls. at 55c. 

December 11. 
Menhaden is quiet and a little unsettled ; the supply in first hands 
very light, but jobbers report trade very dull, and a full supply on hand. 



312 KEPOKT OF COMMISSIONF.K OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

December 18. 
Menhaden has been quiet, owing to small offerings; sales are 30 bbls. 
prime light at 5Gc., and 70 bbls. on private terms. 

December 25. 
Menhaden quiet but steady, with a small supply. 

1873. 

January 1. 
Menhaden quiet, with only small sales making. 

January 8. 
Menhaden is firmer, and other oils used by tanners have also ad- 
vanced. 

January 15. 
Menhaden oil rules quiet, and with a small stock very firm in price. 
We note sales of 120 bbls. from store, reported at 50c. 

January 22. 
Menhaden is quiet but very firm ; no sales making. 

January 29. 
"Menhaden oil: some sales have been made at 57 to 58." (Boston 
oil-market reports.) 

February 5. 
Menhaden rules firm, though somewhat nominal, owing to the very 
small stock. 

February 12. 
Menhaden oil was active last week, and sales were made of 1,750 bbls. 
Maine oil, all reported at 60c. 

February 19. 
Menhaden oil is in small supply in first hands, but dealers hold a 

pretty fair stock. 

February 26. 

Menhaden is held very firmly, as there is a very small stock here. 

Brown oil will bring about as much as light, owing to the small supply. 

]\IARCII 5. 

Menhaden is firm, but veiry quiet; no sales reported. 

MARCH 12. 
Menhaden is firm, but not active ; 100 bbls. Maine oil sold at 00c. 

March 19. 

Menhaden oil rules quiet ; there are some lots offering, to arrive, at 

60c., for Maine catch. 

March 26. 

Menhaden oil has ruled dull since our last ofiering at 60c. for Maine. 

oil. 

April 2. 

Menhaden oil rules quiet, but is held higher; no sales making. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN". 313 

April 9, 

Menhaden oil rules dull, and lots are pressing for sale ; 60c. is asked, 
but a full lot could not be placed except at a muck lower price j we 
have not a single transaction to note. 

April 16. 

Menhaden is held at GOc, and not offered at lessj but buyers would 
not buy any lots at anywhere near this price. 

April 23. 

Menhaden oil nominal ; no sales making. 

April 30. 

Menhaden oil is easier, offering at 57^c. in lots for Maine catch. 
Sales are 300 bbls. ; closing sale at this price. 

INlAY 7. 

Menhaden oil is lower owing to the near approach of the fishing sea- 
son, and sales have been made of 155 bbls., at 55c.; 25 bbls., at 56c.; 
and in Boston, 30 bbls., at 56c., and 80 bbls., at 57c. 

May 14. 

Menhaden oil is somewhat nominal, about all in the market having 
gone into second hands. Jobbers are said to have a smaller supply than 
usual at this season of the year, and the feeling may be considered a 
little stronger at the close, owiug to the backwardness of the catch. 
There has been one small lot of iuferior now in market from Florida, 
which has been sold at 50c. The Long Island fishermen report fish 
scarce and yielding only about one gallon per thousand. If the weather 
continues fine a few small lots may be expected next week, but not in 
sufficient quantities to supply the demand for some time. Tbe i)rospect 
as to future prices is that the market, without any disturbing iuHuences 
and a usual catch, will rule at about 42Jc. The sales reported since our 
last are 500 bbls. i)rime Maine, at 55c., 50 bbls. ordinary, at 57c., and 
11 bbls. iuferior new Southern, at 50c. 

May 21. 

Menhaden oil has been in fair demand ; it is said that the dealers 
have a small stock on hand. Xew oil has not yet arrived, but is daily 
expected. We note sales of 201 bbls. ordinary, at 55c., and 30 bbls. 
select, at 56c. From Boston reports we have : 

''Menhaden oil remains quiet. Sales have been made at 55 and some 
lots of dark oil have sold at 50. As the season is approaching w hen 
new oil will soon make its appearance, those holding old oil are anxious 
to dispose of their stocks, and under such circumstances sales have been 
made below market value." 

May 28. 

Menhaden oil rules firm and in small supply. There is said to be no 
oil in first hands, while usually there is a good deal carried over. New 
has not made its appearance, but is daily expected. Since our last 
there has been but one sale, a lot of 110 bbls. at 55c. 

June 4. 

New menhaden oil is arriving feebly, and the quality not being very 
choice, prices are lower. The sales are 25 bbls. at 52c. ; 25 bbls. at 



314 REPOET OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

51c.; and 27 bbls. on private terms. The fishermen report plenty fish 
but a small yield of oil. Boston, June 2d, reports say : 

"Menhaden oil remaining quiet; most of the old oil has been sold at 
52 © 53. The prospect for this season's catch can only be judged by the 
preparations made for doing the business, all of which are being carried 

forward on an extensive sale." 

June 11. 
New menhaden has come to hand very slowly, and the market has not 
declined materially since our last report. We would quote 51® 53c., 
with sales of 50 bbls. choice at 52c., and 50 bbls at 51® 52c. Jobbing 

sales at 53c. 

June 18. 

Menhaden oil comes to hand very slowly, the fish being scarce and 

yielding only about 1^ gallons pfer thousand; prices remain firm, with 

sales of 100 bbls. at 51c. for choice brown, and 52c. for select light ; 

there is but little dark oil coming in and would bring 50c. 

June 25. 

Menhaden is still in light supply and is consequently held firmly; 
the fish yield rather poorly but are more plenty and are growing fatter. 
Sales are 75 bbls. light, 25 bbls do. ; 11 bbls. do., at 51c., and 20 bbls. 
brown at 50c. Boston reports, June 23, 1873, say : 

"Menhaden oil of this season's catch has not yet made its appearance, 

and report says that there are plenty of fish on the coast of Maine, 

but the yield of oil very small ; but with good weather the fish will soon 

be in good condition. Prospect is that we shall not want for menhaden 

this season." 

July 2. 

Menhaden oil is about Ic. lower at the close, though receipts are not 
large. We note sales of 150 bbls. at 50c., 51c. for choice, and 20 bbls. 
inferior at 48c. 

July 9. 

Menhaden is now coming in more freely and has fallen ofi"in value; 
last week sale was made of 300 bbls. at 50 ® 51c. ; but yesterday and 
to-day 150 bbls. were sold at 45 © 47c. 

July 16. 

Menhaden oil has up to last week come to hand very sparingly, and 
the price was held up till toward the close at 45c. ; but with more lots 
pressing in, sales were made of 52 bbls. at 45c. ; 33 bbls. at 43^c., and 
this week 300 bbls. at 42^c., at which price the market closed. 

July 23. 
Menhaden oil has not come in freely, but buyers are holding off, as the 
market for their product is dull, and in consequence the price is easier; 
last week a lot of 50 bbls. sold at 42, but yesterday 38 bbls. sold at 41, 
and today 50 bbls. at 41c., at which the market seems to be steady, as 
40c. has been bid and refused, though should receipts be large a further 
decline may be looked for. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 315 

July 30. 

Menhaden oil rules steady at 40c., with not much coming in. The in- 
creased facilities which the fishermen have this season have been of 
little account thus far, the oil made being less than at the same time 
last year; still the fish yield fairly, and if they were abundant the pro- 
duction would be very large. Dealers have bought very si^aringly, as 
their trade has been small, and the price has steadily declined since the 
new oil made its appearance. Exporters could afford to pay the present 
price if freights were not so unusually high, and with lower freight-rates 
a good demand may be looked for from this source. How much the 
large seal catch will interfere with a market for this oil is not known yet, 
but should the catch of menhaden be large, oil would have to sell at 
such a price as would be paid by a foreign market. At what price our 
home dealers would be willing to stock up it is difficult to tell, they 
having different views as to future prices ; but -at the present all buy 
only sufficient to supply their present wants. Sales are 3U0 bbls. at 40® 
41c., the highest price last week. 

August 6. 

Menhaden oil has not come in very freely ; all told, iierhaps 400 lbs. for 
the week, 200 of which sold for home use on private terms, and. the bal- 
ance shipped. 

The price remains steady at 40 © 41c., and there is a difference of 
opinion as to whether the oil is held back or whether the factories are 
making but little ; most of the trade are of the former opinion. Boston 
reports, Aug. 4, says : " Menhaden oil : some sales have been made at 
45c. for small lots, but the Maine manufacturers are firm and intend 
I)utting their price at 50c., and holding. Reports are conflicting in rela- 
tion to the catch ; do not think from all accounts that there will be as 
much oil as last year." 

August 13. 

Menhaden oil has not arrived freely, and is, consequently, a trifle 
firmer ; the catch of fish is unusually small and the yield is only one and 
a half gallons per thousand. There have been sales here of GOO bbls. 
at 40 ® 41^c. as to quality, the market closing pretty strong at 41c. for 
nice oil. The Boston market is higher. Boston reports, Aug. 11, say : 
" Menhaden oil : there has been a sale of 500 bbls. at 45c., and the manu- 
facturers have agreed to hold price at 50. Most of the Maine oil is being 
shipped to New Bedford, and parties make advances, which satisfies the 
manufacturers. By this means they will keep oil up to 50c." 

August 20. 
Menhaden oil is firmer, owing to small arrivals and a light stock in 
the hands of jobbers. The combination in the East also has a tendency 
to stiffen prices here. The fish are now reported very fat, yielding 10 
to 12 gallons per thousand, but the catch is small. Sales 250 bbls. at 
41^c. At the close there is none offering on spot, and one lot to arrive 



316 EEPOET OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHEEIES. 

is held as bigU as 45c., but this may be considered an extreme price j 
probably 42^c. is a fair quotation for choice oil. 

August 27. 

Menhaden has sustained the advance of last week and rules very firm. 
There is not much coming in, and jobbers carry small stocks, but a 
better supply may come in at any moment ; and, in consequence, jobbers 
will not buy more at x^resent rates than they require for immediate 
wants. Sales are 30 bbls. nice brown at 45c. ; 50 bbls. choice light at 
45c., and 150 bbls. on private terms, supi^osed to have been about 45c., 
at which the market closes. 

September 3. 

Menhaden oil is very firm, with a small supply coming forward. All 
lots are taken as fast as they arrive. Sales are 65 barrels at 45c. ; 40 
barrels inferior on private terms ; 31 barrels prime at 45c. ; 25 barrels 
at 45 cents, and 35 bbls. to arrive at 45c. Boston reports, Aug. 25 : 
"Menhaden oil remains firm, and sales of 300 barrels have been made 
at 48, and it is doubtful if any can be had now less than combination 
price, 50 cents. The weather has been very unfavorable for 10 days 
past, and the catch very light. The amount of oil taken this season 
only amounts to about G,500 barrels, and the expense has been much 
greater this season, as the fish arc some twenty miles away. The quality 
of the oil taken is very choice." Sep. 1st: "Menhaden: a sale of 700 
bbls. prime Maine has been made at 4Sc. To day a meeting is to be 
held, and price of manufactures will be put at 50 to 52c., and some say 
55c. The catch for the past leu days has been very light. Some manu- 
facturers are holding at 55c. Should two thousand bbls. be shipped, it 
would advance oil to 50c. firm. Five hundred bbls. are going this week 
from here to Liveriiool, and I hear of other lots to follow.'' 

September 10. 

Menhaden has been more plenty the past week, but is taken freely on 
arrival at firm prices, the jobbers being short supplied and having a 
good demand for their kinds from consumers. The sales are 495 bbls. 
at 45c. cash from dock, and would ])robably bring 4Gc. in shipping 
order ; but we cannot expect any export demand at present prices for 
oil, unless freights and exchange should very much favor shippers. 
There have been two lots sent from this market this season — one of 190 
bbls. on order and one of 100 bbls. on account of a factory. The season 
thus far has been an unsatisfactory one for those who usually supply 
this market, and should the fall catch not i)rove better, we will have to 
look to Maine for a supply for this market. The fall season is, however, 
often the best, the fish being usually very fat, and if they catch enough 
fish may make up for all deficiencies ; the fall catch last year was small, 
however. 

Boston reports, Sep. 8 : "Menhaden continues firm. The manufactur- 
ers hold at 50c., but I do not know of any sales at that price; 48c. is the 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 317 

highest that any large lots have been sold for. The catch is reported 

ligbt for the past week. 

September 17. 

Menhaden oil is firm and wanted, meeting with a ready sale at 45c. 

for nice brown or light oil. The fall catch cannot be determined yet, 

but we hear that the fish are said to be wild and do not school ; a few 

weeks, however, will determine the fall catch. Sales here : 95 bbls. light 

oil at 45c. 5 50 bbls. brown at 45c. j 35 bbls. light at 45c.; 40 bbls. at 45c. 

September 24. 
Menhaden oil has arrived slowly, and is still firm in price; but with 
the present uncertain state of the money market and foreign exchange 
a reaction may take place, as anywhere near present rates there could 
be nothing done for export. The arrivals and sales have been 30 bbls. 
at 47c. ; 120 bbls. at 45c. ; 25 bbls. at 45c.; and 22 bbls. at 45c., which 
price is not to be obtained at the close, and 400 bbls. have gone into store. 
.Jobbers of curriers' oils report rather less doing this week. Boston re- 
ports, Sep. 22 : " Menhaden oil is held firm at 48 to 50, but no sales have 
been made over 48. The exportations still continue; 500 bbls. go to 

Liverpool this week." 

October 1. 

Menhaden oil is dull and nominal; there have been fewer arrivals, all 

of which have, however, gone into store, as there are no buyers at more 

than 42e., while holders still ask 45c., though would probably shade 

this price for a cash offer. Boston reports, St^p. 29 : " Menhaden oil : sales 

of several lots of 300 to 500 bbls. at 47 to 48c. and holders are now very 

firm. The catch for the past fifteen days has been better and fish fatter. 

October 8. 

Menhaden oil is not coming forward, and the lots in store have not 

been sold. The market is nominally as quoted in our list. Sales of 21 

barrels on private terms and a report of 75 bbls. for export at 42c., but 

we were not able to verify the report. 

October 15. 

Menhaden oil is not coming in very freely, but the continued dull state 
of the market has caused a decline in prices, and at the close 40c. is the 
best price to be obtained. The home trade are not in the market at all. 
The sales are, 50 bbls. at 42c. ; 5G bbls supposed to be at 41^c. ; and 
3i)0 bbls. at 40 c, all prime lots, the latter for export. We learn that 
the Maine fishermen have closed their factories for the season. 

October 22. 
Menhaden oil is very dull and not coming forward; only 22 bbls. have 
arrived, which sold at 40c. 

October 29. 
Menhaden oil has not arrived freely, but with little or no demand the 
price has fallen off, and sales have been made of 46 bbls. at 3Sc., with 
more offering at the close at same price and buyers bidding 35e. This 



318 KEPOET OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

evening we hear that 100 bbls. sold at 37^c. and 100 bbls. on private 
terms. 

November 5. 
Menhaden oil is very dull, and with none coming in we have no fur- 
ther sales to report ; a lot on the way is offering at 37c. 

JSTOVEMBER 12. 

Menhaden oil is lower, but the lots that arrived recently have been 
generally stored, and there is nothing offering at the close at less than 
35c., though a prime lot was offered at 33c. on dock, without liuding a 
buyer. 

A small lot of Southern oil of inferior quality sold at 30c. 

November 19. 

Mendalien oil is not lower than we quoted last week, but there is not 
much doing ; jobbers are buying very sparingly, and there is not, as yet, 
much demand for shipment, but while the present demand from jobbers 
does not warrant stocking up, the unusually low price may induce them 
to anticipate their wants. There have been sales of 10,0C0 gallons for 
export at 32c., and 200 bbls. for home use at 33c. 

Boston reports, Nov. 17 : " Menhaden oil is held above the views of 
buyers. It is difficult to give the quotation in the absence of any sales 
of importance ; last sale was about 38 for 250 bbls." 

November 2G. • 
Menhaden oil is quiet, but with no lots coming in the price is rather 
more steady, with sales of 100 bbls. light at 33c.; most holders ask 35c. 
from store. Brwou oil not being plenty this season will bring about as 
much as light. Boston reports, Nov. 24: Menhaden oil held above the 
views of buyers. It would be difficult to get an offer of more than 37 to 
3'8c., and most of the holders will sell less than 42 to 40c. 

December 3. 
Menhaden oil has become very much firmer, all the lots pressing for 
sale having been taken ; holders ask 40c. The last sale was 150 bbls. 
i^rime light at 35c.; previously there was a sale of 100 bbls. at o4ic., 
prompt cash. It is difficult to give an exact quotation, but the i)robabi]ity 
is that no great quantity could be bought under ^Oc.' Any action taken 
by the Maine fishermen, who meet in Boston to-day, may have some in- 
fluence. Boston reports, Dec. 1 : " Menhaden oil : the difference between 
the buyers and sellers still exists, and as curriers are not running on full 
time, rot much oil changes hands. The manufacturers meet in this city 
Tuesday, December 2. Some agreement may be adopted in relation to 
prices for oil on hand and also that to be made the coming season. 

December 10. 
Menhaden oil has advanced, closing firm at the asking price of last 
week, with considerable sales making. There are free buyers at prices 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 319 

a shade below the asking rates, but holders are not shading 40e. on any 
lot, and most of them ask 45c. The Eastern manufacturers Lave com- 
bined at 4:5c., and this lends strength to our market. While the amount 
of oil held back by the manufacturers is thought to be considerable, and 
the demand from dealers been small, still there is a feeling that [)rices 
are low and likely to advance. The sales are 310 bbls. on spot, at 40c. 
Boston reports, Dec. 8th : "Menhaden is firmer and sales have been 
made of about 1,500 bbls. at 40 © 41c. ; it is now held at 43"® 45c. 
The meeting of tbe oil manufacturers last Tuesday resulted in holding 
oil at 45, which they seem determined to carry out. There is to be 
another meeting next January in IsTew York for the purpose of effecting 
a union with the Long Island and New Jersey associations, and mak- 
ing a uniform price among the different cities." 

December 17. 
Menhaden oil has been more active, and 325 bbls. sold on spot here at 
40c., and 800 bbls. to arrive on private terms. Boston reports, Dec. 15 : 
"Menhaden remains firm, and sales have been made at 40c. for several 
hundred bbls. which have been floating about the market. When these 
lots are closed out it will be difficult to buy under 45c., a price at which 
it is held. A sale is reported of 500 bbls. at 42^c." 

December 24. 

Boston reports, Dec. 22 : "Menhaden-oil maintains its firmness, but 
not many sales have been made. Selleis are holding at 45c., which is 
above buyers' views." 

December 31. 

Menhaden oil is not active, but remains firm in price, with not much 
coming forward. What action the fishermen may take at their meet- 
ing next week is not known, but the effect is certainly depressing. 
There have been sales since our last of 200 bbls at 40c., and today 80 
bbls. at 40c. Boston reports: Dec. 29th, "Menhaden quiet; there does 
not seem to be any inclination on the j)art of buyers to pay the prices 
asked by sellers, and with the close of the year parties have no disposi- 
tion to increase stocks. Sales have been very limited." 

1874. 

January 7. 
Menhaden oil is quiet, but steady. Arrivals light. Last sale 140 
bbls., at 41c. 

January 14. 
Menhaden oil is higher since the meeting of the manufacturers last 
Wednesday, and there are buyers at 42ic., and it is rumored that 43c. 
has been bid. There have been other sales than those we report, but 
they are for the present kept private; we note 175 bbls. on private 
terms; 100 bbls., at 42^c. ; 50 bbls., at 42ic.; 4,000 gallons in Boston, 
and 50 bbls. pressed oil here, on jDrivate terms. 



320 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

January 21. 

Menbaden oil is higher and in more demand, but the advance checks 
sales for the moment. There are no lots to be had for less than 45c., 
with 44^c. bid and refused. There was a sale last Wednesday of 150 
bbls. for export at 43c., and since 50 bbls. for home use at 44c., and 
10,000 gallons ia casks to arrive at 42ic. 

January 28. 

Menhaden oil has not been so active the past week, buyers and sellers 
being apart in their views ; sales are 300 bbls., at 44c. 

There are several lots offering at 45c., and buyers have bid 44c. 

February 4. 

Menhaden oil has been in good demand, and the market is very 13rm, 
with an upward tendency. There have been considerable sales during 
the past week, part said to be for export. We note the following lots 
sold : 1,500 bbls. Maine oil to come here ; 1,500 bbls. to an Eastern man- 
ufacturer ; 1,542 bbls. and 50 casks other kinds^ and 400 bbls. direct 
from manufacturers are reported at 45c. The market closes at 45c. bid, 
and 47ic. asked. 

Boston reports Feb. 2d : "Menhaden oil nearly all in first hands has 
been closed out at 42 J to 43c. ; some are holding at 45c., but it does not 

find ready sale at this price." 

February 11. 
Menhaden oil has ruled quiet but firm, 45c. having been bid and re- 
fused; 47^c. is asked. Sales since our last, 382 bbls. at 45c. Boston 
reports Feb. 9 : " Menhaden oil has beeu sold at 42 to 44c., and only a 
small quantity remains in first hands that is held at 45c." 

February 18. 
Menhaden oil has ruled quiet the past week, but is very firm in price, 
46c. having been bid for shipment. The sales are 300 bbls. for home 
use, at 47^c. Boston reports, Feb. IGth : " Menhaden — a sale of 700 
bbls. has been made on private terms ; the curriers are not doing much, 
so the demand for fish-oils is very light, and prices are no higher than 
last week." 

February 25. 
Menhaden oil quiet and hardly so firm ; 100 bbls. reported sold from 
a dealer's hands, at 47.^c. ; 50 bbls. from dock at 45c., and to-day a lot 
was offered on dock at 46c.5 but was not sold up to a late hour this 
afternoon. 

March 4. 
Menhaden oil is quiet, and with a light jobbing demand, and dealers 
well stocked up, the tone is not strong. Sales of 50 bbls. for export on 
lirivate terms, and 60 for home use at 45c., at which price there are other 
buyers. 

March 11. 

Menhaden oil is dull, and but few sales are making ; some lots arriv- 
ing have been stored, as holders will not submit to any concession in 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 321 

price. Buyers are all sui)plied for tbe moraent, and will not ijay 45c. 
Sales are 50 bbls. on private terms. Boston reports, March 9 : " Men- 
liaden oil is quiet, not much ofteriug ; it is held at 45c., but buyers do 
not seem to think they can pay it. Curriers remain inactive, hence 
demand for oil is very light." 

March 18. 

Menhaden oil is lower, as some small lots continue to arrive, and are 
pressed for sale, the larger dealers being all stocked up for the present, 
and complain of dull trade. Holders generally look for better prices, 
and refuse to sell at less than 45c. There has been a sale of 170 bbls. 
for shipment at 42c., and there are some other lots said to be offering at 
this price to arrive. Boston reports, March IGth : " Menhaden oil is 
held at 45c. for choice; some lots a litRe below standard have been 
shaded; with only about 1,000 bbls. in first hands, if there is any 
business this spring oil must advance." 

March 25. 

Menhaden oil has arrived very sparingly, and we have heard of no 
sales since our last ; 45c. is asked, but buyers would not pay more than 
43c. 

April 1. 

Menhaden oil is very dull. There have been no arrivals, but it would 
have been difficult to place any quantity even at our lowest price. The 
only sale we hear of is 50 bbls. prime from second hands at 45c. 

April 8. 

Menhaden oil dull ; no arrivals, but the market is weak, and 41c. will 
now buy a small lot here. 

April 15. 

Menhaden oil has been slow of sale, with some arrivals of Maine lots 
on this market. There are sales of some considerable lots, reported 
chieHy on i>rivate terms, some of which have been held here for some 
time. The sales foot up 1,255 bbls., part at 41c. for prime, up to 42ic. 
^ 43c. for Maine, and a resale of same at 44c. About half of these 
sales were for export, the advance in gold assisting this trade. 

April 22. 
Menhaden oil is dull, and can be had at 41c., but there have been no 
sales of prime from first hands. Maine oil is held at 42c. Boston re- 
ports April 20: " Menhaden oil continues dull, and without any demand 
it is difficult to fix a price. There is oil going to be exported, and if 
the surplus should be sent away prices will be firmer and higher." 

April 29. 
Menhaden oil is still very quiet, and we have only 250 bbls. to report . 
sold at 41c. Boston reports, April 27th : " Menhaden oil quiet, and, as 
there has not been any large sales made, we cannot give i^rice, but it 
looks as though it would be higher." 
21 F 



322 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

May 6. 

Menliadeti oil has been more active, holders meeting the views of buy- 
ers, witb the approach of warm weather and the fishing season. Sales 
are 250 bbls. for export at 41c.; 400 bbls. for home use at 40c.; and 
700 bbls. for home use on private terms. Boston reports, May 4th : 
" Menhaden — a sale of 400 bbls. for export was made at 40c., but it is 
held higher at close. The news from the seal fishery is of a very dis- 
couraging nature, and the first news is more than verified. This must 
advance menhaden and whale oils." 

I^lAY 13. 

Menhaden oil has been quiet, with small offerings recently. There 
has been some inquiry at late prices, but the only lots coming forward 
since our last have been small^lnferior ones, and sold at irregular prices ; 
the new catch has been fair for so early in the season. 

May 20. 
Menhaden oil has ruled quiet with small arrivals. Prices have not 
improved. One lot of 175 bbls. camQ in during the week, and sold for 
shipment at 40Ac., at which price there are buyers for export. The new 
catch is reported as very favorable, but none has as yet made its ap- 
pearance in market. Pressed fish, sold to the extent of 50 bbls. at 44c. 
Strained choice menhaden oil is in some demand, and 25 bbls. sold at 

47c. 

May 27. 

Menhaden oil is quiet ; there is not much coming forward, but dealers 
will buy only such lots as they actually need. The new catch has been 
reported less favorable the past week on account of the cold and stormy 
weather. Sales are reported of 50 bbls. new oil, the first of the season 
at 40c., and and 160 bbls. old at 40c. Boston reports, May 25th : " Men- 
haden oil dull, and not much demand for home consumption ; several 
lots have been shipped at about 40c." 

June 3. 

Menhaden oil is beginning to come forward more freely ; but holders 
have not as yet offered below 40c., and one lot of 50 bbls. is reported at 
that price. The new catch is reported as more favorable than any pre- 
ceding year at this time, but manufacturers say it will not pay to make 

at much below present prices. 

June 10. 

Menhaden, has been offering freely, and some lots have been pressed 

for sale from dock, and low prices have been named on them. Buyers 

will not take hold except as they need for actual wants, and prices are 

low, withf-ut much business. Sales, 75 bbls. on private terms, and some 

small parcels at 37 <cb 38c. from dock. There has been some inquiry for 

pressed i'cr export, and 125 bbls. sold at 4Gc. 

June 17. 

Merthnden oil is coming to hand freely and has to be sold at prices 

■ whj'3h o'lporters are willing to pay ; there have been sales of 125 bbls. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 323 

at 3Sc. and 500 bbls. for export on private terms. The tisbing is said 
to be very favorable and the make large. Boston reports, June 15th: 
" Menhaden oil, small sales at 40c. The demand is light, as enrriers are 
doing comparitively nothing. The eastern manufacturers are making 
pre[)arations for doing a large business, and intend commencing in 
a lew days if the fish should arrive." 

June 24. 
Menhaden has been offered freely and closes easy, though there are 
buyers for export at better than the lowest price, which was a lot of 140 
bbls. ])rime, at 35c. The market closes, we think, at about 3Gc. There 
is a fair demand for pressed oil. 

July 1. 
Menhaden oil has not come to hand quite so freely of late, and buyers 
begin to think that better prices may rule. There have been sales of 
550 bbls. at 35 ® 3Gc,, part at the latter price was for export, and we 
would quote the market firm at the close at 3Gc. and some of the fisher- 
men asking higher prices. Boston reports, June 22d : "Menhaden oil — 
Some 41)0 bbls., all that remains of last season's catch on the coast of 
Maine has been shipped to Liverpool during the past week. There 
have been no sales of new oil ; prices asked are 37 ® 38c. The weather 
has been such as to prevent taking any fish the past week. All are 
anxiously looking to the Maine fisheries for a supply of oil, which have 
iailed them trom seal fisheries and cotton-seed." Boston reports, June 
20th: '-Menhaden oil — The catch of fish has commenced on the coast 
of Maine, but the quality is such that the yield of oil is small. The 
expense of manufacturing oil is so great that, unless oil should bring 
40c. or upward, it will be unremunerative to the makers of oil." 

JULY' 8. 

Menhaden oil continued to increase in firmness following the date of 
our last report, and sales have been made of fully 1,000 barrels chiefly 
at 37c., and largely for export. Many of the fishermen are asking 40c., 
and are not offering to sell at less; if the receipts increase this week 
again the price will probably decline, but should they continue to be 
only moderate 40c. would prebably be reached. 

JULY^ 15. 

JMenhaden oil has come forward a little raorefreely, and as the demand 
is not urgent for either home use or export prices are a trifle easier. 
There have been sales of 150 bbls. for export at 3Gc. At the close 36c. 
is asked and 35c. has been bid, and sales made of 123 bbls. for home use 
at 35c. Boston, reports July 13th : "Menhaden oil — There has been 
a sale of 1,000 bbls. at 38 ®. 39c. of this year's catch, but at the close 
tishennen jire asking 40c. The weather has been very unfavorable the 
past week, and should it continue it will have a tendency to advance 
the price cf oil. Much depends upon the results of the fishing for the 
next three weeks. The cost of oil has been increased materially by the 
introduction of steamers, and 42c. is a low price for nice Eastern oil." 



o21 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

July 22. 
Boston reports, July 20th : Meuhadeu oil — There are orders to buy at 
prices which the fishermen will not accept. The catch has not been 
verjMarge during the past weelx, and the'fishermeu hold their oil firm at 
40c, x\t the close 1 understand several lots are being exported, and 
should a large quantity be exported it would make prices firm here." 

July 29. 
Menhaden oil has been quiet with but little coming forward ; the price 
is steady with 35c. for brown, which is the only kind we are now receiv- 
ing. The feeling among all parties is that the present is as low as prices 
will go, and we bear that some of the manufacturers have closed their 
works on account of the small yield of oil from the fish ; as little as one 
gallon to the thousand is reported in some localities. The sales are 300 
barrels at 35c., and 50 barrels at 35^c. Boston reports July 27th, "Men- 
haden quiet ; there are some 700 bbls. being exported, and price remains 
nominal. Fishermen do not care to sell at anything less than 40c,, and 
buyers will not pay it ; all wanting." 

August 5. 

Menhaden oil comes forward very slowly, this being what might be 
termed " between runs," the fish being scarce about the Long Island and 
Connecticut coasts. Since our last report there have been sales of 150 
bbls. at 36c. f. o. b. ; 140 bbls. on dock at 35^c., and 75 bbls. pressed at 
40c. 

Boston reports, Aug. 3d : " Menhaden Oil — The manufacturers are 
holding nice oil at 40c., but no sales are made ; some 500 bbls. have 
been sold at 38c. and some reported at 36 ® 37c. ; the oil being made 
now is much better in quality than last year at this time." 

August 12. 

Menhaden oil is not coming to hand very freely and rules firm in price; 
a choice light oil is j)articularly wanted and commands readily 30c., 
while an oil of dark color will hardly bring 35c. Exporters are in the 
market. Sales are 70 bbls. choice at 37c. free on board ; 400 bbls. to 
at arrive 35i ® 36c. ; 45 bbls. at 35c. and 20 bbls. at 36c. 

Boston reports, August 10th : " Menhaden oil — A sale of 1^000 bbls. 

has been made at about 35c. The catch has been fair the last week. 

Dealers stand back and will not buy at 35c." 

August 19. 

IMenhaden oil is firm in price, as not much is coming forward. There 

have been sales of 300 bbls. at 35c. for brown, and 36c. for light; in 

shipping order, free on board, 37c. would iirobably have to be paid. 

Boston reports, August 17th : '' Menhaden oil — Sale of 500 bbls. for home 

use at 40c., and for export a sale of 500 bbls. at about 30c. There has 

been a large quantity exported, taking all the oil as fast as it is made, 

and it looks as though a better price would be obtained later in the 

season." 



history of the ameeican menhaden. 325 

August 26. 
MeDbaden oil lias come forward rather more freely, but has been taken 
at aboat steady i^rices for home use and export ; at the close some lots 
are oflering, and 3uic. will buy nice oil. The sales have been about 
800 bbls. at 35c. for brown, up to 37c. for light, free on board. Boston 
reports, August 20, "Meuhaden oil is being shipped freely, and sales 
have been made at 35 ® 3Gc. for export. There does not seem to be 
much activity for home consumption as yet. The price agreed upon by 
the oil association at its last meeting was 40c." 

SErXEMBER 2. 
Menhaden has been quiet, with only one lot of fair brown oil sold for 
shiptiieut, 83 bbls., at 35}. The other lots which have arrived have been 
delivered former contracts. Boston reports, Aug. 31, " Menhaden oil is 
firmly held by manufacturers at 40c., but for export a concession of a 
few cents would be made. There has been 3,000 bbls. exported this 
season from here, which has taken all the surplus oil.'' 

September 9. 

Menhaden oil has come in rather more freely the past week, and our 

advici^s are that the catch is better of late, and the season's production 

promises to be fully up to last. Prices remain without change, as the 

consumptive demand is rather moderate and the demand for export, of 

late, bas fallen off somewhat. The sales since our last are GOO bbls. 

brown and light brown for home use at 35 <a) 35ic.; 200 bbls., as it runs, 

for home use, at 35c. 

September 1G. 

Menhaden oil has not come forward very freely of late ; the catch 
is said to be small at the present time, on account of the fish being wild. 
The demand has not been large, and sales have been made cf about 
250 bbls. brown, at 35c. or 3Gc. for light; alsosomelots sold at 35|c for light 
and brown mixed. Some parties think that this oil is a good purchase 
at the present price, and we hear of reports of some large transactions, 
footing up several thousand bbls. direct with the fishermen. 

Boston reports, Sep. 14th : " Menhaden oil. — The large sale of several 
thousand barrels which took place some ten days since has had a tend- 
ency to make the market firm, manufacturers holding at 42^c., but 
dealers are not disposed to pay it, so no sales." 

SEPTE3IBER 23. 

Menhaden oil bas not arrived during thie past week, owing to the storm, 
and we hear of no sales ; the price remains firm, but dealers and ex- 
porters are not anxious for present wants. 

Boston reports, Sept. 21 : "There is a disposition among the manufac- 
turers to hold oil at 40 ® 42c., but buyers cannot be found at those fig- 
ures. Curriers are doing but a little, and do not talk as tbough they 
would want much oil. Unless there should be a start in trade, prices 
must rule low." 



326 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

September 30. 

Menhatlen oil has not come forward at all freely, aiitl holders ask au 
advauce ou lots on the way. We hear of 300 bbls. ofiering- to arrive. 
Buyers report a quiet market and show no williDguess to meet sellers. 
We hear that fish are abundant but the yield of oil small. 

Boston reports, Sep. 28th : "Mendaden oil remains without activity. 
The views of buyers and sellers do not harmonize. Manulacturers are 
holding- at 40c, and dealers will not pay over 30 ® 38c." 

OCTOEER 7. 

Menhaden oil closes firmer, with dealers rather inclined to stock up. 
We have conflicting reports from the Boston market with reierence to 
Maine oil. Our correspondent does not give us any sales at the ask- 
iug price of holders, but trustworthy parties here say that 000 bbls. 
"Gallup" make were sold there to go to Gloucester at 40c. The sales 
here are 150 bbls., at 3u^c. ; 100 bbls., at 35i| c. ; 370 bbls., on spot, at 
30c. ; 12,000 gallons, to arrive, at 30c., and a report of 70 bbls. very 
choice, at 37c. 

Boston reports, Oct. 5th : "Menhaden. — There is a stand-still, owing 
to the difference between the views ot buyers and sellers, one side hold- 
ing at 40c. and the other only ofieriug 35 ® 3Gc. The fishing season is 
nearly over, and it is about time to get results of the season's work." 

October 14. 

Menhaden is very firm and the tendency is upward, with a demand 
both for export and home use. The business the past week has footed 
np 050 bbls. at 37c. for brown and 3Sc. for light, including 250 bbls. for 
export. At the close 40c. is asked and 38c. would be paid. 

Boston reports, Oct. 12th : " Menhaden oil. — More demand from deal- 
ers, and prices are 38 © 40c. Manufacturers are thinking of advancing 
the price to 45c. ; if they should it would be holdiugit out of the market. 
There have been sales of several hundred barrels at 40c. 

October 21. 
Menhaden oil is higher ; the news of the very light catch of Arctic 
whale oil was the immediate cause of an advance of about 2c. There are 
now many buyers and few sellers. There were sales following our last 
of 100 bbls. brown at 37|c. ; 350 bbls., for export, at 39|c. ; and 300 
bbls. Maine oil, at 42c. At the close the market is very much unsettled, 
but the tendency is upward. Boston reports, Oct. 19th, "Menhaden oil 
is firmer and is selling at 38 ® 40c., although manufacturers are holding 
at 40c." 

October 28. 

Menhaden oil is again firmer, and toward the close there was consider- 
able excitement, owing to dealers stockiug uj). The market closes strong, 
with many buyers and few sellers. Sales are 78 bbls. ordinary, at 42|c. ; 
100 bbls., at 43c. ; 150 bbls., at 43c. ; 90 bbls., at 43ic. ; 400 bbls. Maine 
oil, at New Bedford, at 42c. cash ; 000 bbls. do., light colored, to come 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 327 

Lere, at 42^c. cash ; and later we hear that a farther sale has been made 
iu New Bedford, to come here, of about 1,000 bbls. more. 

Boston reports, Oct. 2Gth : " Menhaden oil is decidedly firmer, and held 
at 42^ (a) 45c.; sales of 1,000 bbls., at 40c. and 42Jc., and holders are 
certain that it will bring 45c. within a short time. The season has 
closed, and the oil has ])een placed with the exception of about 2,000 
bbls." 

iSToVEMBER 4. 

Menhaden oil is rather more quiet, and we think the upward tendency 
checked for the present. The recent large sales supplied those who 
were short. For the last few days the fish have been very fat and much 
handsome oil has been made from them, and while we believe the stock 
to be undoubtedly small, we think that it is generally underestimated. 

Boston reports, Nov. 2d : " Menhaden oil firm and scarce. Sales have 
been made at 42c., and at close 45c. is asked, and very little oil in the 
market. Should a brisk demand spring up this market would soon be 
cleared out." 

November 11. 

Menhaden oil is easier than at the date of our last. The unusually 
fine weather during the week has been favorable for taking fish, which 
have been very abundant, but we learn are becoming less plenty toward 
the close, and that some of the boats' crews have stopped for the season. 
Buyers have for the present a full supply, and sellers have been obliged 
to accept as low as 40c. for brown and 41c. for light oil to-day, though 
this would seem to be bottom, as this price is bid by others, and most 
holders ask from 43 to 45c. When fishing ceases entirely there may be 
an improvement in prices again. There was a rumor in the market 
about two weeks ago that most of the menhaden in the English markets 
had been bought ibr American account. This proves to be a fact, as we 
now learu. 

November 18. 

Menhaden oil has again become easier, and at the close nice light oil 
cannot be quoted at better than 40c. One party claims to have been 
bid this price for shipment, while Irom an equally reliable source we are 
informed that a cargo of 400 bbls. was offered at this price, and the best 
bid being 3Sc., it was returned to the manufacturers' factory. Some 
parties who have oil stored in this city are holding at 45 <a) 50c. The 
close is quiet. The sales during the week have been 500 bbls. Maine oil, 
in New Bedford, at 42ic. ; GO bbls. choice Loug Island sold here at 41c., 
and 150 bbls. at 40 © 40.}c. 

Boston reports, Nov. 16th : "Menhaden oil is selling at 42c. ; stocks 
light, and should business spring up oil will advance." 

November 25. 
Menhaden has not been pressed for sale the past week, which would, 
however, have had a bad effect on the market. Keceivers are looking 
about for export orders to relieve our market. Exporters claim that they 



328 KEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

cannot pay 40c., which is the price asked. There have been sales of 400 

bbls. very choice Barren Island, at 40c., for home use, and 175 bbls. on 

private terms. 

Boston reports, Nov. 23d : " Menhaden oil is quiet, with a light demand, 

but prices are firm ; sales have been made of 1,000 bbls., at 42Jc., in New 

Bedford, to go to Gloucester and New York. Stock of oil in Boston very 

light." 

December 20. 

Menhaden oil is very quiet and the price remains nominally unchanged, 
sellers not pressing goods for sale, and buyers not anxious to take hold, 
having sufficient to supply their wants for the present. Sales 2.000 gal- 
lons, at 40c. 

Boston reports, Nov. 30th : "Menhaden oil is firm, and the price remains 

at 42 ® 45c., with light stock, and should business start up oil must 

advance to 45 © 50c." 

December 9. 

Menhaden has been quiet, with not so much offering. There is no 
particular change to report in prices ; 47 bbls. sold on private terms. 

Boston reports, Dec. 7th : " Menhaden remains as last reported, with 

a small supply and a smaller demand ; oil held at 42 ® 45c. without any 

sales." 

December 16. 

Menhaden oil has been very quiet for the past two weeks, and the 
tone is barely steady. A lot of 300 bbls. sold at a private price ; 40c. is 
probably the full value of nice light oil. We hear that a cargo is on the 
way to this market. 

Boston reports, Dec. 14th : " Menhaden oil. — A sale has been made at 
about 42c. for 200 bbls. made at Narragansett Bay. Maine oil is held 
firmly at 42 <a) 45c., and it looks as though oil would soon be worth more 
than these i^rices, as the carriers are more active." 

December 23. 

Menhaden oil has been quiet all week, and we only hear of 70 bbls., 

at 38.3,0., cash ; 80 bbls. were shipped on order. 

Boston reports, Dec. 21st : " Meuhaden oil. — No sales to note during 

the week, but holders are firm at 42 ® 45c." 

December 30. 

Menhaden oil is quiet and easy in price; one lot of 200 bbls. and one 
of 25 bbls. have sold since our last at a private price. We quote the mar- 
ket about 38c. for good, sound oil. 

Boston reports, Dec. 28th : " Menhaden oil is quiet, and will be so until 
after the commencement of a new year. No sales; asking 42 ® 45c." 

1875. 

January G. 

Menhaden oil is dull, and sales are very few; prices nominal. 

Boston reports, Jan. 5th : " Menhaden oil dull, and not much demand, 
although oil is held firmly by the few manufacturers that have not sold 
their product, at 42 © 45c." 



history of the american menhaden. 329 

January 13. 
Menhaden oil is in a position rather difficult to report. There are no 
lots on spot offering, and to arrive 40c. is asked, which buyers as yet are 
not willing to pay, but 38c. has been bid. There will probably be some- 
thing done after the manufacturers' meeting to-morrow. We have not 
heard of a single sale for a week. The last lot was reported at 39c. by 
seller and 38c. by buyer. We hear that 130 bbls. of light, pressed, have 
been sold for shipment at 44:C. 

Boston reports, Jan. 11th : " Menhaden oil remains quiet, without any 
demand, and the price is nominal." 

January 20. 

Menhaden oil is firm, but quiet, at 40c., at which price there are 
sellers. Buyers have not as yet made up their minds to });iy this yet, 
but there seems to be every prospect that a higher price will be reached 
before long. The sales are 100 bbls. prime Western at 40c., and we hear of 
a lot of inferior having sold in New Bedford to go to Boston, 200 bbls., 
at about 3Sc. We also hear that a fisherman has bought 500 bbls. on 
speculation at 40c., but we were unable to learn when it was to be 
delivered. 

January 27. 

Menhaden oil is very quiet ; neither buyers nor sellers being inclined 
to make any concessions at the present time. The market, however, 
may bft quoted very strong at 40c., and most holders ask more. Since 
our last there has been but one sale, from a dealer to a dealer, of about 
7,000 gallons in casks, at 42c. from store. Boston reports, Jan. 25ch : 
"Menhaden oil is held more firmly at 45c. since the meeting of the oil 
manufacturers held in New York ; some sales have been made at 40 © 
41c. by parties that wanted to realize." 

February 3. 

Menhaden oil is dull and very slow of sale; in fact, there have been 
no sales, and prices are hardly more than nominal. 

February 10. 

Menhaden oil has been in more demand, and we look for an active 
business within the next week or two. There have been sales reported 
since our last of 500 bbls. of Western oil, at 40c., for March delivery, 
and this afternoon we hear that 511 bbls. sold at 41c., and about 1,000 
bbls. more on private terms; the advance in gold caused a firu^er 
feeling. 

Boston reports, Feby. 8th : " Menhaden oil. — There seems to be more 
demand, and we note a sale of 2,000 bbls. Maine, at 45c., in New Bed- 
ford, and a sale here of 50 bbls. at 45c. Should an active demand arise 
from consumers it is thought that oil would go to 50c., as all the oil is 
in the hands of a few manufacturers, and their views are that prices 
will be higher." 

February 17. 

Menhaden oil can hardly be quoted higher, though one dealer has re- 



330 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

ceotly taken about 2.300 bbls., part reported in our last. The price 
ranged from 35c. lor inferior oil up to 40.^c., and not 41c. as reported in 
our last. The close is firm, and all the lots at 40c. have, we think, been 

taken. 

February 24. 

Menhaden has been quiet since our last, the buyers of last week hav- 
ing taken all lots offered at about 40c., and holders now ask 43c. for nice 
light oil. 

J3oston reports, Feby. 22d : "Menhaden oil. — A sale has been made, to 
go to Gloucester from New Bedford, of 200 bbls., which will cost 4G^c. 
delivered. No stock here in first hands." 

Matich 3. 

Menhaden has been quiet the past week so far as sales go ; there has 
been some inquiry, however, but buyers have not got iheir ideas up to 
sellers. Holders ask from 42 to 43c. for ordinary western oil. 

March 10. 

Menhaden oil is not offering on spot, but is not wanted ; 42c. is asked, 
to arrive, for a lot of 500 bbls. No sales. 

Boston reports, March 8th : " ]Meuhaden oil held at 45c., and some 
sales reported in New Bedford at that price. If a demand should 
spring up from consumers, oil must advance to 50c." 

March 17. 

Menhaden is as dull as any article on our list. A cargo came to hand 

from Barren Island, but had been sold a long time ago. We exjjcct a 

cargo of 5,000 bbls. from that place in about two weeks, which will be sold 

on this market. The price here is nominal at 40 ® 4Ic. ; the lower price 

would probably be paid for good oil ; the higher price might possibly be 

l)aid for very choice. 

March 24. 

Menhaden oil has been dull, and up to today there has been but one 

sale of CO bbls., choice, from second hands, at 42c. To-day a lot of 200 

bbls. sold, to arrive, at 40c. for prime, subject to approval. This is 

about the price lots will bring on this market, and we do not look for 

any important advance on this price. 

March 31. 
Menhaden oil has been more active the past week, and all good lots 
offering at 40c. or thereabouts have been taken. Sales reported are 
500 bbls., choice, to arrive, at 40^c. ; 250 do., at 40c. ; 115 do., at 40c., and 
150 do., part inferior, at 35c., and prime, at 40c. 

April 7. 

Menhaden oil has ruled quiet, and we have no sales to report since 
our last ; buyers will pay 40 ® 40^c. for nice light-colored oil, while hold- 
ers would ask 41c. 

April 14. 

Menhaden oil has ruled quiet since our last, without any particular 
change, and but few sales are making. There have been several arrivals 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 331 

of cod oil recently, which meets with a steady sale. Boston reports, 
April 12th: "Menhaden oil is very quiet; curriers are doing little; hence 
the demand is light. The mauufacturers ask 43 ^ 45c., and dealers 
otter 40c." 

Apkil 21. 
Menhaden is strong, and in rather more demand, with a sale of 130 
bbls. brown oil at 40c., while light would probably bring 4ic. Boston 
rej)0:ts, April 19th : "Menhaden oil is held firmly by manufacturers at 
43 ® 45c., but sales are light. Dealers are willing to pay 40c. Some 
sales have been made on private terms, probably at about this price." 

April 28. 

Menhaden oil has taken quite another turn, considerabls lots having 
been sold for shi[)ment; and now that most otber oils have advanced, 
the prospects are that the advance in menhaden will be maintained, 
even though the early fishing should be very good. The sales since our 
last have been as large as at any previous time, and create considera- 
ble excitement. The particulars of the transactions have been 1,600 
bbls. Maine oil, in New Bedford, for export, on private terms, and 3,300 
bbls. do., for home use, at 42ic. In this market tlie sales have been 
150 bbls. ordinary, at 40c.; GOO bbls. do., at 41c.; 100 bbls. inferior, on 
private terms, and 50 bbls. Maine, at 44c., with 45c. asked for the same 
at the close. 

May 5. 

Menhaden oil has ruled firm in price, and some of our dealers have 
been buying quite freely and paying the advance asked by holders. 
The stock is now reduced to a small amount in first hp.nds. The fisher- 
men of Long Island, Connecticut, &c., will " try their luck " on the 15th 
of this month, and the immediate future of prices depenrls somewhat on 
the first catch. Sales here of 150 bbls. Maine oil, at 45c. 

May 12. 
Menhaden oil is just between seasons and hard to report. Some of 
our dealers have good stocks and some very little. The recent large 
sale in New Bedford, at high prices, it was thouglit would have ad- 
vanced prices here, but we do not notice much improvement. The 
fishermen, generally, put out their nets yesterday, and expected large 
hauls if the weather would prove favorable, and the present indications 
are that there will be a season of warm, bright weather. We hear that 
some fish have been taken at Greenport, and oil in small quantities is 
expected here in ten days or two weeks. The success of the early catch 
will, without doubt, have a great influence on prices. Of course all the 
first oil is brown and light colored ; Maine will not be allected by it, but 
of this kind there seems to be a good supply in the hands of dealers. 
Since our last two lots were offered, to arrive, both near at hand, and one 
of 300 bbls. sold at 4L per cent., and 140 bbls., now in, at 42 per cent. A 
nice sweet lot of brown was otlering at 43c., but could not be obtained. 



o32 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

^lAY 10. 
Meiiluulou has been a little unsottUnl, Holders bavo boon aiiximis to 
get rill of stocks before the new eateh came to hand, and yet \Yere nn- 
willinji' to make any important concession. The first new oil of the 
season came in to-day, two lots, one of 37 bbls. and the other of 14 bbls.; 
the last lot was of very inferior qnality, and bron.uht 30c.: the other lot 
has not been sold as yet. The news from the fishermen is not favora- 
ble, no lish being canght on several days last week, and the yield small. 
This may be looked on, however, as interested information, with the 
worst side shown. The fact of 51 bbls. coming in to day shows that 
some lish mnst have been caught. The sales of old oil are 1,0U0 bbls. 
Maine oil, in New l}edford, at 42Ac. ; loO bbls. dark and brown, here, at 
41c. ; 105 bbls. dark pressed, at 4UAc. ; 50 bbls. very dark gnrry, at 20c.; 
40 bbls. shore oil, at 50c. Boston reports, ]May 15rh : '' Menhaden. — As 
the season is approaching when new oil will be coming in, the market 
is just now a little easier. A few porgy have already been caught m 
Long Island Sound. We note a sale at ]Sew IVdford of 1,000 barrels, 
comprising about all the stock of 3Iaine oil iu tirst hands. The quota- 
tions to day are 40 <S) 43c." 

May 26. 

In all, the arrivals this season have been about 230 barrels of new 
Menhaden oil, most of which is now on dock unsold. After our last, 
two lots, of about o'ii bbls. each, brought 40c. ; one was unusually hand 
some for oil caught at this season. Holders ask this price at the close 
and future prices depend upon the catch for the next few weeks. We 
hear from a reliable and thoroughly-posted tisherman that since last 
Tuesday there have been hardly any Ush taken; previous to that good 
hauls had boon made, but the tish yielded only about two gallons. We 
hear that exporters can pay about 3Gc., and some buyers intimate that 

they will hold off till the export price is reached. 

June 2. 

Menhaden has come to hand to the extent of about 150 barrels since 

our last. Holders ask 40c. for good new ; buyers' ideas are not more 

than 3Sc., and 30 bbls. were reported at about this price. The other 

lots have not been reported as sold. 

June 0." 

Menhaden oil is quiet, Avith new oil worth about 37c. for prime 
quality. The catch of lish is small and the yield light. The arrival 
of oils has been limited, but trade with the dealers has been dull and 
their wants small. During the week we hear of the following sales: 
125 bbls., 50 bbls., 70 bbls., and 52 bbls., all at 37c.; ]00 bbls. on pri- 
vate terms ; and 75 bbls., not swoot, at 30c. We also note a sale of 
50 bbls. domestic cod, at 58c., and 13 bbls. strictly pure do., at G5c. 

June 10. 
Menhaden oil has not been plenty the past week, the cool weather 
not being favorable for catching. The lish are reported as yielding very 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN- 333 

little oil, wliicli is of (m]y fair quality. The tanners are very dul], and 
consequently the consumption of such oils is very light; and dealers 
report a very dull trade in tanners' oils. Owin^' to this fact, unless we 
have an export demand, prices will have to rule very low. Most of the 
dealers carry a good stock. Sales during the past week that we have 
reported to us are 4G bbls., at 3Gc. ; 24 bbls., at 36c. ; 28 bbls., at 37c. ; 
and CO bbls., at 37^c. o^o sales of cod to report. 

June 23. 

Menhaden is quiet; the demand is light, but there is not much coming 
forward. The lish are uncertain and the yield small. We hear of a 
sale for export of 125 bbls., at .SOc. ; 200 bbls. for home use, at 37c.; 29 
bbls., at 37c. ; G7 bbls., at 3Sc. ; and 50 bbls., at 3Gc. 

June 30. 

Menhaden is dull here, as the demand for tanners' oils is very light. 
Prices have declined ; and sales have been made of IGO bbls., at 35c. 
and 100 bbls., at 35^c., both cash. The fishermen are doing fairly, and 
unless we have more home trade, we will have to look to foreign mar 
kets for an outlet. We hear that some orders are in the market now^ 
and that one party is busy filling quite a large one which has not been 
reported. 

July 7. 

Menhaden rules quiet and steady at 35c., with some export demand 
at this price. The lots which come to hand and sold are 00 bbls., .30 
bbls., 25 bbls., 50 bbls., 100 bbls. ; part of the last two brought 3G <a> 37c. 
from a consumer and part for export. 

July 14. 

Menhaden has come to hand in fair quantities, and is taken by home 
and exi)ort buyers at 35c. for good oil, which seems to be the market 
price, buyers being unwilling to pay more and sellers refusing to take 
less. Tiie shipments of over 1,000 bbls. to Glasgow la.st week are said 
to have been pressed Maine oil, and sent on owners' account. The 
sales here have been 350 bbls., in lots, for export, and 490 bbls. for home 

use, all at or on a basis of 35c. 

July 21. 

Menhaden is quiet at34©35c. Following our la.st, there were two 
lots of oil offering to arrive — one from Maine, of about 500 bbl.s., and 
one of about 150 bbls.. Western. A bid of 35c. was asked for these and 
could not be had in this market, and then 34^c., cash, would have 
bought. Indeed, the market was weak, owing to a decline of £2 per 
ton — the market being now £33 — in London, and a falling off in the 
price of gold here, which cau.sed shipping limits to be reduced to about 
.'>4c. At the same time there were two home buyers ready to take 
small lots of nice oil at 35 c. on the spot, but their requirements would 
be supplied with a very small quantity. On Thursday the Maine oil on 
the way to this market was dispo.sed of to a Xew Bedford refiner at 35c., 
and since there have been the following sales : 200 bbl.s., on spot, at 
34^c.; 500 bbl.s., to arrive, at 34ic. ; 50 bbls., on spot, at 35c.; 50 bbls., 



334 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

on spot, for export, to complete an order, at C5c. ; and a parcel of about 

50 bbls., select, on private terms, probably at about 3Gc. 

Our reports from the Western fisliernien are that the fishing is poor, 

and the yield only about 2 ©2^ gallons per thousand. From JMaine we 

hear that the fish are rather scarce, and the yield about 4 gallons per 

thousand. The Maine fishermen seem to be adopting a ditlerent course 

this season from last. Last year they carried their stock over into the 

l^reseut catch, but they are sending forward their new oil as early as 

poi^sible now. 

July 28. 

3Ieuhaden oil has not arrived so freely, but one lot that we heard of 

last week coming on the market. The demand has been entirely for 

home buyers, and they have not wanted very large parcels. The decline 

in gold caused shippers to reduce their limits to 33c., but the advance 

to-day may help matters, though no effect is yet noticed. To day three 

lots came to hand; in all, a little more than .'i-OO bbls. 130 bbls. of 

this sold at 34ic.; and 100 bbls., hardly prime, sold at 34c. The other 

lot is still unsold. Being mostly light-colored, it is held at a higher 

price. The lot mentioned as having come to hand last week was 135 

bbls., and brought 34.}c. 

August 4. 

Menhaden has not come to hand very freely, as the catch of fish is 
sm.ill and yield of oil light. In consequence, vre are informed that some 
of the fishermen have closed their works till lall, or such time as the fish 
yield enough oil to make it pay. While the arrivals have been small, 
they have been all that the market could bear, and in some instances 
prices have been shaded a little. There is little or no demand for ex- 
port, except at 33 c. for light oil. The sales are : 100 bbls. prirae light, 
at 34o. ; CG bbls. do., at 34Jc. ; 70 bbls., at 33^0. ; 62 bbls., at 33-^c. ; 
37 bbls., at 33c. ; and 1,G00 bbls. Maine oil in i^Tew Bedford, at 35c. 
The Maine make this season, thus far, has been about 5,000 bbls. The 
yield of oil per thousand fish on Long Island is an average of 1^ gallons. 

August 11. 
Menhaden oil has come to hand fairly, and several lots of Maine oil 
have been offered for shipment. There is no difference in price between 
Maine and Western oil, the former being in comparatively larger sup- 
ply. Dealers are buying sparingly, as their trade is dull, an<l the tend- 
ency of prices is downward, toward the price shippers can afford to pay, 
which, at the present, is said not to be more than 32c. for the choicest 
lots. This is very low ; but the fishermen, said to be making less than 
former seasons, seem to be forwarding their oil pretty rapidly. On 
Wednesday, 500 bbls. of Maine oil sold at 33c., and 100 bbls. Western 
at same price. Thursday a straight lot of 1,000 bbls. Maine was oli'ered 
at 33c. without finding a buyer. Since then there have been sales of 
500 bbls. on [novate terms. Atthec'ose the market looks as though 
30c. would be a near-future price. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 335 

August IS. 
Menhaden is steadier, but we hear that fish are more abundant and 
fatter. Tanners are buying more oils. Exporters cannot pay more than 
32c. ; some lots could probably be sold at this price. The transactions 
since our last are 2,900 bbls. J\Iaiue oil, 900 to arrive in New JBedibrd 
and 2,000 bbls. here, at o3c. ; 58 bbls. western oil to an out-of-town con- 
sumer, at Sic; 80 bbls. do., at 32c,, and 91 bbls. inferior, at 31c. 

August 25. 

Menhaden has not changed much in value since our last report. It 
seems to be about as low as it ought to go, and yet if the catch is large 
and is forced on the market it may go lower, particularly as there is no 
export demand of importance, and foreign orders are at very low prices. 
This is now rehitively the cheapest oil in the market. The sales during 
the week have been as follows : 800 bbls. of Maine, to arrive, at 32ic. ; 
152 bbls. Sound oil for export, at 32c.; 180 bbls. for export, at 31 ^c; 30 
bbls. do., at 32c.; 20 bbls. dark brown, at 31c.; 30 bbls. do., at 30c., and 
25 bbls. poor, at 29c. A lot of 300 bbls. Maine oil came to a dealer 
direct. 

September 1. 

Menhaden has not arrived in this market very freely the past week. 
All lots coming to hand have been taken without much urging, mostly 
for home use. The sales are 70 bbls. Sound oil, at 30c.; 100 bbls. do., at 
30ic., both lots a little off from prime; 50 bbls. do. prime, at 31c.; 143 
bbls., at 31c.; 150 bbls. for export, at 31^c., and 100 bbls. Maine, 
to arrive, at 32c. We hear that there are orders in this market for 
several thousand bbls. for export at 31c. It would relieve our market 
very much to place some full parcels in European markets. The oil is 
the cheapest grease in the market. We have just received a letter from 
a correspondent in the East, the pith of which we give, as follows : The 
fish are becoming plenty and yielding well. The stock at Booth Bay is 
4,G0O bbls.; at Eound Pond, 3,400 bbls., and at other points in Maine, 
8,000 bbls. The hauls of fish on the 28th iust. in Maine were said to 
have been sufficient to make a thousand bbls. of oil. Another corre- 
spondent writes that the fish are yielding 6 ® 8 gallons to the thousand, 
which is large. 

September 8. 

Menhaden oil. — We have a report from Maine dated August 3d which 
says that the large hauls did not continue beyond the day mentioned in 
our last and part of another, when the fish fell otf, and have since been 
quite scarce. There have been several shipments, in all amounting to 
between 2,000 and 3,000 bbls., to Xew York, Boston, and New Bedford 
to fill old contracts at 33c.; but now the larger holders have put up 
their price to 35c. Our market has been quiet, dealers having a fair 
supply, and, though arrivals have been moderate, no advance has been 
obtained till towards the close, when shippers have, we think, advanced 



336 EEPOET OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

their limits somewhat. Sales have been made here of 170 bbls. Sound, 
30^c.; 30 bbls., at 31c.; 50 bbls. brown, at 3Uc.; 50 bbls. gnrry and 
dark, at 20©2Sc., all for home use; 90 bbls., at 32ic.; G2 bbls. brown, at 
31^0.; 300 bbls. on private terms, and 300 bbls. Connecticut, in Boston, 
at 33Ac., all for export. 

September 15. 

Menhaden has been taken more freely for export by parties in this 
market, who have slightly increased their limits. This does not seem 
to have any perceptible effect on prices, and dealers who generally have 
a supply will not pay any advance. The sales reported us are 150 bbls. 
Sound, at 32c.; 40 bbls. dark, at 31c. ; 700 bbls. do., at 32c.; 175 do,, at 
33c. f. o. b.; 1,000 bbls. Maine, at 33c., and a cargo of about 3,000 bbls. 
f. o. b., at Eound Pond, Me., at 32c., all, or nearly all, for export; also 
260 bbls. Maine, in Boston, at o2^c., for export. 

Our correspondent, under date of Sept. 10th, at Eound Pond, Me., 
says; Very few fish have been caught, and the fishermen are much dis- 
couraged. A good deal of oil has been shipped from here to fill old 
contracts, and higher prices are asked. 

New London, Conn., Septemher 11. 

Fish on the Connecticut shore have been quite plenty during (he past 
ten days, and at Lyme and Mystic, where most of the fish-oil works are, 
the manufacturers have done well. 

From Tiverton and Portsmouth, E. I,, we hear that the fishermen 
have done very poorly for the past three weeks, and one of the largest 
manufacturers that he has made but little more than 300 bbls. this 
season. 

Our advices are that most of the Long Island fishermen are doing 

well. 

September 22. 

Menhaden oil has not changed in position much since our last. There 
have been very few arrivals, and none of these came on the market, 
having been sold previously. Dealers are not anxious buyers, and will 
pay no advance, as they have sufficient stock to meet all wants for some 
time to come, yet they would probably take any good lots that were 
offered at present rates, the season being so far advanced that the catch 
cannot be of much account on the western fishing coast, where it has 
been pretty poor all season. The Maine catch has no doubt been a 
good one. Exporters have taken some lots, but there are not many 
orders now in market. The sales since our last are 200 bbls. Sound, at 
32c.; 53 bbls. do., fair quality, in two lots, for home use, at 31c.; and 
50 bbls. prime, at 35c. Two lots, one of 200 bbls., at 32c., and one of 
140 bbls., at 33c., f. o. b,, were delivered to shippers this week. The 
sales were made some time ago. A vessel is dailj^ expected with a cargo, 
which will come on the market. 

September 29. 

Menhaden oil has come to hand very sparingly the past week, and our 
reports from the fishermen continue so unfavorable that the indications 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 337 

are that higher prices will rule in the near future. A letter of recent 
date says that tbere are probably not over 1,000 bbls. on the Con- 
necticut shore. This may be an nnderestitnate, but all of our advices 
are that the amount is very small. The arrivals and sales here have 
been 100 bbls., at 33c.; 150 bbls., at 33c.; both for export; 14G bbls., 
at 32^c., and 100 bbls., at 33c., for home use. The lot reported in our 
last should have been 250 bbls. instead of 200. 

October 6. 

Menhaden oil has been scarce the past week, the only arrivals going 
on former contracts, one for 180 bbls., for export, at 33ic., and one of 
150 bbls., for home use, at 33c.; also a sale of 17 bbls,, brown, at 32c. 
Eei^orts from the fishermen are that there is very little doing, and the 
prospects are unfavorable. Some of the Maine manufacturers have sent 
their vessels to the west, but the roughness of the water will not permit 
them to haul their nets. The tendency of prices would seem upward, 
particularly for light-colored, and as high as 35c. might be paid for a 
nice lot. The late fishing may prove good, as it did last year; but at 
the present time the chances do not stem favorable. Exporters in this 
market say they can pay no advance, and the only orders we hear of 
are at 32c. 

October 13. 

Menhaden has been rather scarce of late, and the tendency of the 
market is upward. A week will decide whether the fall catch will be 
good or not. At the present time fishing is very i)oor, but they expect 
better fish and more of them next week. The arrivals have been about 
425 bbls., and 100 sold at 32c., 76 at 33c., 106 at 32^0., and 150 for 
export on private terms. Buyers will take all lots offered them at 
l)resent rates. Bleached oil has been advanced, sales having been made 
of 50 bbls., at 47c., and held at 48c. now. 

October 2'J. 

Menhaden oil is higher. The catch has not improved much and can 
hardly amount to a great deal hereafter. Several of the manufacturers 
report considerable losses in tbeir business, and hope for a run of good 
fat fish yet. There have been no arrivals since our last, but a small cargo 
is expected. We think the next sales of good sound oil will be about 
36c. Maine oil is now held at 40c. in New Bedford, there having been 
a cargo sold to arrive there of about 70J bbls., at 39c. Bleached is 
higher, and 50 bbls. have sold at 50c., for pressed. 

October 27. 

Menhaden oil has been very excited, a movement having commenced 
following our last which ran up the price so that holders in the East 
asked above 40c., and sales were made here up to that price, while 
prices have shown no weakness, 40c. having been bid and refused here 
for a lot of Long Island oil on spot. The news of a good catch of whale- 
oil by the Northern whaling-fleet, and letters received to day from Fall 
Eiver, where the Maine fishermen are hauling, and also from Barren. 



338 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

Island, reporting plenty offish and a large yield of oil, may cause more 
to be pressed on the market to obtain present rates, and a reaction may 
take place. The sales reported are 1,400 bbls. in New Bedford, at 37c.; 
900 bbls., at 39c. ; 500 bbls. on private terms, and 100 bbls. reported at 
40c.; 1,000 bbls. of Maine oil to arrive here, at 40c.; 100 bbls. Sound 
oil to arrive here, at 34c.; 100 bbls., at 3Gc.; 150 bbls., at 37^c., and 142 
bbls., at 40c. There has been much activity in bleached, and we hear 
of the following sales: 534 bbls., all at 50c., small lots now being held 
as high as 55c. 

November 3. 
Menhaden oil has been quiet the past week, but steady in price, even 
though the reports are quite favorable from the fishermen, who are said 
to have had a good run all last week. The season has so far advanced 
now that the catch from this out cannot be very great, and holders are 
firm in their ideas asking, and we hear of no lots offering for less than 
42c., with sales of 850 bbls., at 40c. Part of last week large hauls of 
mackerel were made by the menhaden fishermen. We hear of a vessel 
being chartered last week and a cargo of menhaden sent to the East, 
the boats which caught them not having time to return with their load. 

November 10. 

Menhaden oil has come to hand more freely of late, as the catch is 
reported pretty good, but will shortly end. Dealers here take all that 
come to hand at 40c., but we do not hear of their being willing to pay 
any more. Sales are 453 bbls. on spot at 40c. ; 300 bbls. for forward de- 
livery, and 70 bbls. on spot on private terms, but no doubt at same 
price. The oil comiug now is very handsome. 

November 17. 

Menhaden oil is firm, and there are free buyers. Most of the fisher- 
men have stopped work. The stock held back is thought to be small, 
and prices may advance if trade should improve. We hear that the 
Maine oil in New Bedford is now held out of market. The sales are re- 
ported of 400 bbls., spot, at 40c. ; 100 bbls. at 41c. ; 220 bbls., to arrive, at 
40c. ; 31 bbls., dark, on spot, at 40c. ; 50 bbls., light, to a consumer, at 43c. 
and 1,000 bbls. in New Bedford reported at 45c. 

November 24. 

Menhaden oil is high in New Bedford, and we hear that holders there 
ask 47^c., but our market has not advanced recently. Trade for tan- 
ners' oils is light, and dealers will not pay high prices. In New Bed- 
ford the oil is refined. The sales here are 245 bbls., to arrive, at 40c. for 
dark and 41c. for light ; 25 bbls., dark, at 40ic. ; 35 bbls., good, at 41c., 
and 140 bbls., selected, at 42c. In New Bedford a lot of 400 bbls. sold 
at 4Cc. 

December 1. 

Menhaden oil has been in a hard jwsition to quote. In the East 
prices are very high and stock scarce. The few lots coming here have 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 339 

to be sold at about 42c., at which price dealers staud ready to buj-, but 
as most of them have a good stock they are not williug to pay aud ad- 
vance on this, and 258 bbls. just to hand were sold at this figure, though 
w^e hear that there are some outside buj^ers willing to pay more. The 
fishing is all over, and one of the Barren Island makers has failed and 
is reported as making a bad showing. In Boston we hear that 100 bbls. 
Maiue oil sold at 45c., and now none offering at less than 47|c. 

December 8. 
Menhaden has ruled firm in price with a small supply offering, but 
jobbers carrying full stocks. All the oil in ^New Bedford, some 2,500 
bbls., has been taken at a private price, and in Boston there remain 
only 100 bbls. unsold in first hands. The arrivals here have been about 
750 bbls., part of which brought 41c.; also a resale of 200 bbls. at 45c. 
There are buyers at from 42 ® 43c. at the close for good oil. 

December 15. 

Menhaden is in small stock in first hands, arrivals being light. The 
500 bbls. reported in our last are said to have been bought by a Boston 
house on speculation at an average of about 42^c. There has since 
been an arrival of 75 bbls., which sold at 43c. to a dealer. The dealers 
of this city are all carrying a pretty fair stock and will probably realize 
a good profit on the oil they hold if the consuming trade at all im- 
proves. 

December 22. 

Menhaden oil has not been received that we hear of since our last, 
most of the oil having been sent forward before. We have heard of 
but two transactions ; a lot of 75 bbls. having sold to come from the 
factory when wanted, at a price not yet made, and 160 bbls. to arrive 
at 43c. We hear of a lot of Maine offering in New Bedford at 47^c. 

December 29, 
Menhaden is firm in price, and all other fish-oils are tending upward. 
We hear that two of the contracts made some time ago for bleached 
were sold some time this month at a premium of $1 per bbl. 

1876. 

January 5. 

Crude menhaden oil is in small stock, probably not over 750 bbls. in the 
hands of fishermen, 1,000 bbls. in first hands in New Bedford, and 750 
bbls. in first hands here. The holders ask 50c., and will probably get 
it. There have been sales of 83 bbls. from store here at 47^c., and 50 
bbls. rather poor at a private price, less than the other. All the pro- 
ducts from menhaden are comparatively cheaper than the crude article. 

January 12. 
Menhaden oil has been taken fairly this week, and the price seems to 
tend upward, as the supply remaining in the hands of manufacturers 



340 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

is very small. One large manufacturer has failed recently. Daring tbe 
week there have been sales of 350 bbls., part rather inferior, at 45c. as it 
runs; we also hear of a resale of 200 bbls. at a private price. Extra 
bleacbed menhaden is held as high as GOc, though ordinary is to be 
had at 55c. 

January 19. 

Menhaden oil rules firm in price, but owing to the small supply busi- 
ness is limited. 

January 26. 

Menhaden oil rules very quiet, but the small stock of crude keeps 
prices firm, and should there be only a fair trade prices would advance 
materially. There is scarcely any going into consumption. Holders 
here ask 50c., and we heard of 50 bbls. selected selling at this price, but 
have also a report of 70 bbls. choice having sold within a few days at 
45c., though this is below the market at the i^resent time. 

February 2. 

Menhaden dull but firm, and the manufactured kinds are generally 
held for more money. 

February 9. 

Menhaden is unsettled and nominal. To sell a comparatively low 
price would have to be taken; but there are no lots to be forced on the 
market. We hear at the close that one dealer is offering to resell, and 
that some parties who bought to bleach have stored their stock of crude, 
and have intimated their intention of selling it rather than manufacture, 
as the price of bleached is not enough higher to pay for bleaching. We 
hear of pressed and strained both selling at as low or less than the 
nominal price of crude. 

February 16. 

Crude menhaden oil is not moving as yet, but holders are firm while 
buyers are well stocked up and are indifferent, their trade being very 
light. There has been more doing in pressed, and we heard of a sale 
of 70 bbls. on private terms, and 50 bbls. at 50c., with holders ask-* 

ing 52c. 

February 23. 
Menhaden has been quiet, as a rule. At the date of our last we were 
informed that negotiations were pending for export, and on Wednesday a 
lot of 500 barrels — which had been held by a dealer — was sold, to go 
to Havre, at 48^c. This has the effect of stiffening prices, which before 
were nominal. The stock in first hands is very small, and if any 
large orders should come into market they could not be filled, except 
at a high price ; at the same time a lot thrown on the market would 
have to sell rather low. 

March 1. 

Menhaden oil is as quiet as can well be, no stock offering, no buyers 
wanting. Price nominally firm at 50c. Bleached and strained are very 
slow of sale. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 341 

MAKCH 8. 

Meiiliaclen oil is in the same position it has been for a long time past, 
not enougli doing to make a market. Dealers have a supply for their 
dull trade, and no further export orders in market. There are a very 
few parcels held by first hands, and these are not pressing for sale 5 
only one do we hear offering at 48c. Dealers are generally inclined to 
work off stocks of bank and strails at quoted rates. 

March 15. 

Menhaden has sold in this market since the lot for shipment at 48c., 
as follows: 50 bbls. at 48c., and 100 bbls. to arrive at 4Gc. There has 
been a sale in New Bedford of 300 bbls. at 4Gc. there to come here. 

March 22. 
]Menhaden has not sold since our last, notwithstanding some commer- 
cial journals reported sales of 2,000 bbls. This lot has not been sold, 
and is now offering. Several weeks ago a bid of 45c. was made on it 
delivered in New Bedford, but the holder refused to sell. We heard of 
50 bbls. dogfish selling here at 47c. Tanners are buying very sparingly. 

March 29. 
IMehaden is dull, none pressing for sale ; no demand except at low 

prices. Holders ask 50c. ; buyers would j)ay 45c. 

April 5. 

Menhaden is generally quiet, but there has been a lot of 300 bbls. sold 
at a private price, reported at about 46c. in store. 

April 12. 

Menhaden is rather uncertain. Fishing will commence in about a 
month, if the weather is warm. Trade is dull. The stock is light. 
Holders do not want to part with their goods unless at full or an ad- 
vanced price, while buyers are inclined to i;ct with great caution, and not 
take unless at a concession. Since our last, a lot of IGO bbls., said co 
be Maine rejections, sold on private terms, and to-day we hear a rumor 
that 1,000 bbls. of Maine sold in New Bedford to a manufacturer at 40c. 
or better. If this is so, it will leave only about 1,300 bbls. in first hands, 
and probably a very moderate stock with dealers. We note sales of 75 

bbls. bleached, at 52c. 

April 19. 

Menhaden has not sold since our last report, but the feeling is easier, 

and the choicest lots can now be had at 45c. The first fishing steamer 

"will be started out the 27th of this mouth, by Y. Koon & Son. The 

stock of oil is small, but probably more than can be sold before the new 

reaches the market. There was a sale of 100 bbls. bleached, at 50c. 

April 2C. 
Crude menhaden is in a peculiar position. If a large lot w' ere forced 
on the market, a low price would have to be taken, and there are one or 
two large parcels which could be bought at easier prices, but the hold- 
ers are not willing to accept any decline for small portions of them. 



342 EEPOET OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

Buyers will not take more than tliey waut from week to week, and, 
as a rule, prefer paying a little more money for a small lot than they 
could buy a large parcel for. 

There is a rumor in the street to-day that 500 bbls. have sold at 46c., 
but one parcel, at least, can be had at 45c.; a sale of 50 bbls. at 4Cc. 

May 3. 

Menhaden is dull. We hear of no sales from first honds since the 500 

bbls. which we reported last week, which was for export to France, and 

at a private price. A dealer sold 25 bbls. to a consumer at 48c. for 

choice. 

May 10. 

Menhaden is quiet and easy, prices tending downward. The fishing 

has not fairly commenced, but we have had two lots of new oil in ; the 

first, 17 bbls., came last week to Cory & Co., and was refined ; this week 

40 bbls. came to T. G. Hunt, but has not been sold. The quality is good. 

The only sale we hear of is 150 bbls., good old oil, at 44c. 

May 17. 

Menhaden oil has declined during the past week, and closes at 35c. for 
prime new oil. The arrivals the past week of new have been about GOO 
bbls., of quality equal or superior to any ever before made. While our 
dealers carry but small stocks of old, the loss on this is very large, and 
they have not beeu in a position to materially lower prices for the manu- 
factured kinds ; but with a pressure to sell, the tendency is downward. 

The oil catch promises to be large, the fish being very fat and yield 
ing well. The probabilities are that as low prices will rule as last year, 
unless we have a good export demand. The sales are 25 bbls. bleached, 
at 50c. ; 100 bbls. do., at 48c., and less would probably now buy ; 100 
bbls. old crude oil iu New Bedford, to go to Boston, at 44c. ; 325 bbls. 
old, here, at 41c. ; 150 bbls. do., for export, at 37|c. ; 200 bbls. da., at 
35 © 36c., and 17 bbls. at 35c. 

May 24. 

Menhaden oil has come to hand rather sparingly the past week, and 
the few lots on the way have nearly all been sold. The price is 35c, for 
good oil, and must be regarded firm under the present circumstances; 
but should there be any large hauls of fish, or the yield increase, prices 
must go lower. Our dealers carry a small stock, but are not inclined 
to buy any quantity at the present time. Should their trade improve, . 
however, and the catch of oil continue light, they would come into 
market in about two weeks, and probably pay an advance. The latest 
report from Long Island coast, and the sound, is that the fish are not 
Ijlenty, small, and yielding two gallons, poor quality. There is consid- 
erable speculation as to future prices, and it is generally believed with 
an average catch, such as last year, i^rices will range from 30 to 35c.; 
but should there be a catch equal to year before last, considerably less 
than 30c. would be reached, or a price low enough to induce exporters to 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 343 

take large parcels. The sales, since our last issue, have been 260 bbls. 
to arrive, at 35c., and a resale of 90 bbls., and some selected on private 
terms. Bleached, pressed, are all easier, and somewhat irregular in 
prices, tending downward. 

May 31. 

Menhaden oil is firm under light arrivals, only two or three parcels 
coming in that had not previously been placed and reported. The news 
irom the fishermen is, that at Barren Island the fishing is fair, but the 
yield only 3 gallons good quality. The east end of Long Island report 
few fish and little oil of poor quality. An arrival of 80 bbls. was placed, 
mostly for export, at 35c., and a parcel of 74 bbls., from New Haven, 
"Q" brand, as it ran, -mostly light colored, at 35c. There has been a 
small sale of herring oil at 30c. 

June 7. 

Crude menhaden has not arrived very freely, and the fishermen re- 
port few fish, but we are inclined to think that more are caught than 
reported. At the close we also hear of several iDarcels at the works 
offering for sale. Last week there were arrivals of 4G5 bbls. of fair 
brown oil, most of which sold to dealers ; one lot of 150 bbls. was placed 
for export, all at 35c. In New Bedford, 3,000 gallons choice light sold 
at 3Gc. 

June 14. 

We note a decided improvement in our menhaden oil market. Be- 
ports from the fishing grounds state that the fish are very scarce, and 
unless they become more plentiful most of the gangs will haul up 
as they are not able to pay their expenses, and are going behind 
every day. In the absence of positive sales it is a hard matter to give 
any reliable quotations ; a prime lot would no doubt bring 33c. Deal- 
ers are on the lookout for small parcels of prime, but do not feel dis- 
posed to bid over the above price; a lot was offered at 37c., but was not 
taken that we hear of. 

A letter to hand to-day says : "I give you our report for the past two 
weeks, which is probably identical with all the sound fishing, viz : The 
catch has been exceedingly small and the fish very poor, not yielding 
some of the time but about two quarts to the thousand. They improved 
slightly the latter part of last week, but are still in small qnimtity and 
comparatively poor. The Maine fishermen are just about commencing 
work, and unless they have better success there will be a scarcity of oil 
and an advance in prices." 

June 21. 

Menhaden oil has continued to advance with small arrivals. The de- 
mand from dealers is not large, but their stocks became almost entirely 
exhausted, and were willing to pay higher prices. Until to-day there 
have been hardly any lots in, and though the steamer to-day brought 
several large i^arcels, most of them had been placed before arrival. The 
sales are 37 bbls. at35J-c., 30 bbls. at 36c., 50 bbls. at 37^c., 200 bbls. at 38c., 



344 KEPOKT OF COMMISSIONEE OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

andG4bbls.at38^c.,alltoarrive5 on spot to day G3bbls. sold at38c.; mostof 
these last were sold as they ruu, not selected. Fishing advices are as 
follows: "Fish are quite plenty and fat, but are very wild and bard to 
get." Another report to hand to-day, dated June 19, says: "The catch 
of menhaden last week was the smallest catch of any week thus far 
this season in Long Island Sound. The few caught were better quality 

than for the preceding fortnight." 

June 28. 

Menhaden oil has come to hand more freely, and the fishing has also 

improved ; consequently prices are again lower and tendiug down. The 

sales are 42 bbls. at 3Sc., 27 bbls., the first from Barren Island, at 38c., 

98 bbls. at 37c. and 75 bbls. at 35 <a) 3Gc., closing with buyers at these 

lowest prices. 

July 5. 

Menhaden oil has come to baud more freely, and the fishing has also 
improved ; consequently prices are again lower, and tending down. The 
sales are 42 bbls, at 38c., 27 bbls., the first from Barren Island, at 38c., 
98 bbls. at 37c., and 75 bbls. at 35 <a) 3Gc., closing with buyers at these 
lowest prices. 

July 12. 

Menhaden oil has not come to hand since our last report, except 93 
bbls., which sold at 3Gc. for light and 35c. for brown, and 50 bbls. yes- 
terday, which sold at 35c. as it run. The market is steady, and there 
are buyers at 3Gc. for good oil. We hear that while the fish are quite 
plenty they are very poor, yielding only one gallon per thousand, and 
that there is not much oil at the factories. Eeports from Maine are 
that the fishing is not very good, and the stock on hand about 1,000 
bbls. They are reported to have made some sales to Boston at 37c., and 
one parcel of 250 bbls. sold at 38c., delivered p New Bedford. 

July 19. 
Menhaden oil has come to hand pretty freely of late, the Sound fish- 
ing having improved very much the past two weeks. The JMaine fish- 
ing is also reported better, and their prices have been lowered to make 
sales. During the latter part of last week there were large arrivals 
from the Sound catch, in all some 1,.!00 bbls., and been placed, as 
nearly as we can trace them, as follows : 130 bbls. at 35c., 100 bbls. at 
35c, 93 bbls. at 35^0., 60 bbls. at 35^0., 80 bbls. at 35ic., and 100 
bbls. on. private terms, all on spot ; and to arrive here 200 bbls. at 35c., 
and in New Bedford GOO Maine, delivered there at 35c., the buyer's price 

and 3Gc. the seller's price. 

July 20. 

Menhaden oil became weaker following our last, as sellers continued 
to ofter and buyers had a supply, and the market went down to 34c., 
with a sale at this price; but, though other goods were offered at this, 
buyers would not take them, and there was a lot placed at 33c., and to- 
day we hear that 32ic. was accepted for good brown oil. The sales 
made foot ux) 600 bbls. 



history of the ameeican menhaden. 345 

August 2. 
Meubadeu oil has not come to baud iu any quantity the past week, 
but, owing to the fact tbat most of the dealers are well stocked up, they 
are not anxious buyers, and tbe price bas not improved. The reports 
from tbe fisbermen is tbat there have been but few taken, and Ibey 
yield a very small quantity of oil. There bas been one sale of 100 bbls. 
at 33c., but lots can be bad at 32^c., with no buyers at better than 32c. 
for ordinary quality. 

August 9. 

Menhaden oil is dull; dealers, being stocked, are not anxious to buy; 

and, though the fishing is reported as being very poor, no advauce can 

be obtained. A choice lot of 290 bbls. sold at 33c., but au ordinary 

parcel could have been bought at 32c., and, not meeting with sale, was 

put into store. 

August IC. 

Menhaden oil has not come to hand very freely, but the supply is equal 

to the demand, as dealers have a stock and do not care to buy large 

lots except at a low price. There bas beeu a shipment of 1,000 bbls. 

Maine, oil sold at 34c., and 400 bbls. Souud oil, part for shipment, at 

32 ® 33c. 

'August 23. 

Menhaden oil has not come to hand to any extent the past week, and 
the sales are of only two parcels, in all about 400 bbls., for export, at 
32c. for Sound make and 33c. for Maine make. Tbe reports from the 
Long Island coast is that the fish are quite plenty, but tbe yield of oil 
is so small, that there is an actual loss in the business. The Maine fish- 
ing is very good, tbe fish being ordinarily fat. There are offers to sell 
brown oil here at 32 <a) 33c., but dealers are not anxious buyers, but 
want a light-colored oil, for which they are williug to pay the highest 
figure. There are exporters williug to pay 32c. for Maine oil, but though 
there may be a disposition on tbe i)art of the Eastern makers to accept 
this price, there is a good deal of difficulty in obtaining a vessel to take 
freight direct froui a Maine port. Unless there can be soaie sales made 
for shipment, there will probably be a surplus on our market all year, 
with no probability of an advance. 

August 30. 

Menhaden oil bas been quiet, with moderate arrivals. Buyers will pay 
33c. ® 34c. for a light-colored lot, but most of them have a supply of 
dark colored, and are not willing to pay so much. There were sales of 
400 bbls. at 33 ® 34c. and 75 bbls. on private terms. 

September 6. 
Menhaden oil bas not come to hand very freely, and tbe market is 
rather stronger for light-colored oil. The trade will pay 34c. for good, 
light, sweet oil. Tbe sales are, 100 bbls. at 33c., 80 bbls. at 33c., 200 
bbls. at 34c., 49 bbls. at 34c., and 60 bbls., irregular quality, at 34c. 
for prime. 



346 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

September 13. 
Meubaden oil. — The market continues firm for tbis article, and bolders 
are asking 34 ® 35c. for a prime article, but we note sales of 400 bbls., 
at 33 ® 34c. The Sound catch has been light, aud'the prevailing price 
for this product has been 32 © 33c. from brown to light, but holders are 
asking an advance on Sound makes, 34c. for brown and 34 © 35c. for 
light. The Maine catch of fish is mostly over, and the catch has beeu 
very fair as to quality and excellent as to quantity, but still not up to 
former seasons as regards quantity. Dealers and manufacturers, es- 
pecially in Boston, have bought more freely of Maine oils than other 
makes. The present price for Boston, New Bedford, and New York 
delivery is 35c. The stock at New Bedford is reported small, with a 
small account held back by fishermen for higher prices. The future of 
this market is, however, uncertain, as there remains yet two months for 
fishing from Maine to south side of Long Island, and the conclusion is 
that prices will depend on this future catch, and it is doubted if export- 
ers can take any considerable quantity if prices advance too far. 

September 20. 
Menhaden oil. — The market remains steady and without change as 
regards prices -since our last. Tbe eastern catch is now about over, yet 
the fishermen are still hauling up the fish, and the balance of the catch 
is very uncertain, depending entirely upon the weather; and 33 ® 35c. 
is likely to be the ruling prices for at least the balance of September. 
There is little or no oil in first hands in this market. We note sales of 
600 barrels Maine oil at 34c. 

September 27. 

Menhaden oil. — The sales for the past week have been only in a job- 
bing way (if at all), and prices remain about as last reported. The weather 
for the past week has been unfavorable for the fishermen, and the main 
gangs have laid up, while the Long Island fishing is poor. Sales of a 
parcel of rejections have been made at 30c., but holders seem firm iu 
their views at 34 © 35c. for prime oil. We note sales of 1,090 bbls. 
bleached at 44^ ® 40 .^c. cash. 

October 4. 

Menhaden oils have been very quiet here, as there have been no arriv- 
als here of any account, and the market is nominally firm. Tiie only 
sales are 100 bbls., at 35c. for prime and 30c. for inferior, and 100 bbls. 
inferior at 30 ® 31c. 

Thus far the Sound fishing has been a failure, but they are expecting 
the fat large fish which have been so plenty in Maine to come to the 
Sound yet. The fish they are now taking are very small and yield no 
oil. The Maine fishing has been splendid, and one oil manufacturer is 

said to have made 10,000 bbls. of oil. 

October 11. 

Menhaden oil is higher, as the fishing in the Sound has not improved. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 347 

One fisherman reports Laving taken only 5 bbls. from 400,000 fisb. There 

are no offerings of any account, and good oil is wanted at 38c., and a 

choice lot might bring 40c., as the stock in the hands of dealers is small. 

There have been no sales here this week that we learn of, but last week 

100 bbls. brown sold at 35c., 700 bbls. fair at 35c., and 30 bbls. prime at 

37c. 

October 18. 

Menhaden oil is scarce and higher, as there have been no arrivals. 
The supply here is mostly in a few dealers' hands, and there is said to 
be very little oil left on Long Island Sound, but we also hear that the 
catch is better in Narragansett than at any time this year, and one 
maker took 400 bbls. of oil in the last ten days. The price will proba- 
bly rule firm, however, as the fishing can hardly last long enough to get 
more than is actually wanted, and should there not be a continuance of 
the good fishing there may be an actual scarcity, which would result in 
very high prices. At the close, spot oil will bring very high prices, and 
one party holds good crude at 45c., with a sale of -JOO bbls at 42c. The 
large movement in the East will advance prices there also. Tbe past 
two days have been too windy for taking fish, and several gangs of 
fishermen have hauled up. The only sales here are 200 bbls. from sec- 
ond hand at.38®40c., the latter price paid at the close. We also heard 
of 250 bbls. Sound oil to arrive, and the make for the balance of the 
season of the two largest concerns to a dealer at a private price. 

October 25. 
Menhaden oil is firm and active, and advanced prices are likely to be 
established unless the present fine weather should contiuue, which will 
enable tlie fishermen to make a month's catch yet, which will likely give 
a supply sufficient for the wants of the trade, yet the advance in whale- 
oil may so affect the market as to counteract the coming catch, and 
thereby cause prices to go still higher. We hear of recent purchases 
of 300 bbls. of Sound (.il which have been i)ut in store at a private price, 
but probably at 40c.; holders are now asking 45c. here, and we hear of 

no sales at less than 42c. for a prime article. 

November 1. 

Menhaden oil is hardly so strong in price as two weeks ago, as the 
catch in the Sound and Narragansett Bay has improved considerably; 
at the former place fish are plenty and fat, yielding a choice oil. There 
will, however, be no material decline in prices, unless the make should 
be very large, as the sui)ply in the hands of dealers is not sufficient to 
carry them through the season, and there are said to be export orders 
at 42^0. The sales since our last are 350 bbls., Barren Island make, to 
arrive, at or about '42c. There were arrivals of 400 bbls., which had 
been sold some ten days or more, at 40c. Pressed oil has been sold in 
25-bbl. lots at 45c. 

November 8. 

Menhaden oil is easier and lower since last week, on account of the 



348 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

larger catch at Barren Island and Narragansett Bay. "We hear at the 
close, bowever, that the fish are falling ofl' and poorer, yielding only 5 
to 6 gallons per thousand. We hear of sales of G50 bbls., ranging from 
38 to 42^c., as to quality, with 40c. about the top price that any buyer 
would pay, and we hear that any bids made for round lots are much 
below this figure. 

November 15. 

Menhaden oil is fairly active, with the catch about over. There are 
only a few fishing gangs and two steamers on the Sound, and the Nar- 
ragansett fishermen stopped last Saturday. The transactions foot up 
for the week some 750 bbls. at from 40 to 42c. for prime quality, closing 
firm, with the large holders asking the higher price. The Maine oil is 
held out of market. 

November 22. 

Menhaden oil is steady though not materially changed in price. The 
fishing season is now about over, and the supply to come forward can- 
not be great, and many parties look for an advance. The sales are 150 
bbls. and 66 bbls., both a little oft' quality , at 40c. ; 170 bbls. good at 41c., 
and 200 bbls. choice at 42c. The Maine oil in New Bedford is held out 
of market. Bleached is dull at 50c., light strained at 45^460., bank at 
44c., straits at 46c. 

November 29. 

Menhaden oil has ruled firm at an advance for very choice lots; other 
grades are quiet. The sales are 98 bbls. at 40c., 150 bbls. at 40c., 270 
bbls. at 40^0., 165 bbls. at 41c., 100 bbls. at 42^c., and 150 bbls., very 

choice, at 43^c. 

December 6. 

Menhaden oil is steady, but as trade is moderate the few parcels com- 
ing to hand will not bring any advance. There are some offerings at 
the close, but they are not large. The sales reported are 18 bl Is. ordi- 
nary, at 40c. ; 150 bbls., a mixed lot, light and brown, at 40c. ; 100 
bbls. choice, at 41c. ; and 121 do., at 41c.; also, 180 bbls., at 4Cc. for 

brown, and 42 for selected. 

December 13. 
Menhaden is quiet, with small sales and few arrivals. The sales re- 
ported are 240 bbls. prime Sound make, at 40Jc., and 70 bbls. inferior, 
dark and strong, at 40c. The business done in pressed and bleached is 

rather light at about former prices. 

December 20. 

Menhaden oil is very quiet, as arrivals are light, but still dealers 

would not be inclined to buy until after the new year. Holders ask 

40'S)42c., with buyers wi.ling to pay about 40'S)41c. Sales, 50 bbls. good 

Sound make, at 41c. There is a report that a sale was made of 400 bbls. 

Maine oil in New Bedford, at 14c., but we have not the report verified. 

December 27. 
Menhaden oil is very quiet, as arrivals are light, but still dealers 
would not be inclined to buy until after the new year. Holders ask 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN, 349 

41®4:2c., "with buyers willing to pay about 40©41c. Sales of 50 bbls. 
prime Sound make, at 41c., and CO bbls. light colored, a little off in 
quality, at 40^c. We are informed that a bid of 44c. from Boston has 
been refused for a large line of Maine make. 

1877. 

January 3. 

Menhaden oil is very quiet, as arrivals are light, but still dealers 
would not be iuclined to buy at any advance. Holders ask 41'S)43c., 
with buyers willing to pay about 40®42c. No sales reported. We have 
noticed that the annual meeting of the Menhaden Association will be 
held Jan. 10th, at New York. 

January 10. 

Menhaden oil has been quiet for some time i)ast, and dealers would 
not take hold except at some concession in price, but this the holders 
were not iuclined to grant, and there were few sales for several weeks 
past; but within a few days there were sales of 1,000 bbls. Maine make 
in New Bedford, to go to Boston, said to be off' in quality, and we sup- 
pose the price not to be far off" from 40c. In addition to this, 4G8 bbls. 
sold to come here, and 590 bbls. Sound make sold here ; but we are 
requested to withhold terms. There was a lot of 150 bbls. offering 
within tbe past day or two, but was not sold that we hear of. The above 
transactions would indicate an easier market, but the advance in cot- 
ton-seed oils may cause a firmer tone. 

January 17. 

Menhaden oil is not changed, but is dull. Holders are, however, gen- 
erally firm, and look for an improvement in price later on in the season. 

January 24. 
Menhaden oil has been very quiet, and there have been but few sales 
for several weeks past. Prices are maintained, as the stock is light. 
The only sales we hear of are 50 bbls. prime, at 42c., and 75 bbls. light 
pressed, at 4Gc. 

January 31, 

Menhaden oil remains nominal, as there are no arrivals, no demand, 

and no sales. The advance in cotton-seed oil, however, is expected to 

have an effect on these. 

February 7. 

Menhaden oil has not moved to any extent since our last, and prices 

have not improved. The only sale we hear of is a lot of 100 bbls. prime 

light at 45c cash. 

February 14. 

Menhaden oil is dull and the price is quite nominal, as there has been 
no sales in the regular way for some time past. Buyers' ideas are 40 
© 41c. for good Sound oil, while sellers hold for 2 © 3c. higher prices. 
It is reported that a Boston party has bid 45c. for a lot of Maine oil, 
and this was refused. Pressed and manufactured oils are not changed 
in price, but a small parcel of the former is said to have been sold low 
for cash. 



350 eeport of commissioner of fish and fisheries. 

February 21. 
Menliadeu oil still remains quiet, and we do not hear of ranch offering 
from first hands. Some of the smaller dealers are in small stock, and 
we heard that 150 bbls. very handsome late fall catch sold from second 
hands at 42c., and 78 bbls. do. at 42^c. 

February 28. 
Menhaden oil is a little more active, as the stock in the hands of 
some dealers is becoming light. Sales are 150 lbs. crude at 42c. on 
spot, and 180 bbls. to arrive at 41^ c, both for home use. 

March 7. 

Menhaden oil has been offering more freely the past week, those hav- 
ing stocks being inclined to market them before the new season begins. 
Dealers are not willing to bny except at low prices, and we heard of 
sales of 100 bbls. Maine at 41c., and 159 bbls. Sound at 40c. Pressed 
and manuftictured menhaden is easier, and we heard of 100 bbls. sold 
for export at 42ic. 

March 21. 

Menhaden oil is dull and offering more freely, with buyers holding off 
and bidding 39c. Most sellers are firm, however, and one of the largest 
holders asks 45c. for Maine catch. The price is unsettled and nominal, 
and may advance or decline in the near future. The only transaction 
we hear of is 125 lbs, Maine at 41c. Pressed oil is offering low from 
Boston, but a special lot which can be had at 41c. laid dow n here is 
said to be off' quality. 

March 21. 

Menhaden oil is still quiet, but the stock is becoming reduced and 
chiefly in the hands of one party. One parcel of Maine has recently 
been closed out, though mostly reported by us before. There was in 
all some 850 bbls., and brought from 41 to 42c. 

March 28. 

Menhaden oil continues quiet, though there is rather more inquiry, 
some for export, but, as a rule, limits are far below the market price. 
The only sales we hear of since our last are 70 bbls. for export at 41c., 
and 50 bbls. for home use at 41c.; both lots were Maine make. We: 
also heard of a sale of 100 bbls. choice pressed at 43^c. 

April 4. 

Menhaden oil has been very dull for some time past and is lower in 
price, good quality offering here at 40c. without finding buyers. There' 
have been no sales here, but in New Bedford a sale of 500 bbls. dark-' 
colored is reported sold to go to Boston at a private price. The manu- 
factured fish-oils are in little better demand, but prices are easy. 

April 11. ^ 

Menhaden oils are easier, as those holding supplies of crude have 

been anxious to sell, and purchasers could be induced to take stock only 

by liberal concessions from holders. The trade generally ha\ e a sufS- 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 351 

cient stock to supply their wants till Dew oil reaches market, but should 
the catch be later than usual there might be a week or more of scarcity; 
but dealers are generally willing to take tbeir chances rather than buy 
at present. The sales reported are 307 bbls. on private terms. There 
was a lot, a little off quality, sold at 38c. 

April 18. 
Menhaden oil has been weak and drooping for some time pas., and 
to sell low, prices would have to be accepted. There was an export de- 
mand but at a low price which has been accepted for 1,000 bbls. Tlie 
terms are kept quiet, but a similar lot would probably not bring better 
than 35 © 36c. We Lear of a small lot of Southern new in market, but 

no price has yet been named for it. 

April 25. 

Menhaden oil has been offering freely of late by parties who held 
stock over from last season in anticipation of higber })rices this spring. 
The consuming trade have taken less than usual and prices were held 
too high all winter, aud until recently, for exporters to make purchases. 
During thS past two weeks, however, holders determined to make sales, 
and as it would not be taken at home, prices were named that met the 
views of shippers, and some 3,000 bbls. have been placed for shipment, 
said to have been at 35 & 38c. ; this includes sales reported in last issue, 
since which we hear of 175 bbls. at 35c., 900 bbls. Maine at 3Sc., and 
500 bbls. on private terms. The first new oil came in last week, a small 
lot of 11 bbls. Southern, aud a little off in flavor ; this was sold at 33Jc., 
a full price. 

May 2. 

Manhadeu oil was easy just i)revious to our last report and there 
were sellers at 35Jc., but the following day buyers for export came into 
market and paid 37|c., delivered, for 500 bbls. A sale was then made 
for home use of 300 bbls. at 37c. and since 100 bbls. at same price. At 
the close there are further negotiations for export, but holders have ad- 
vanced their views. A Long Island newspaper of last week contains 
the following item, which shows that fishing has commenced : 

" Bunkers caught in the pounds, but not many yet. Cassidy Bros, at 
Asshamomoque took 3,000 one night. The pursenet gangs were out 
early in the week, but got no fish until Wednesday, when Capt. E. Tall- 
man took 37,000 and Capt. Jas. Downs about 80,000 fish of very good 
quality, all of them being quite fat for so early in the season. Capt. 
Mart. Grifiang also took 100,000 the same day." 

May 9. 

Menhaden oil has come to hand freely, and that of the new catch 
is unusually handsome. During the last week one commission mer- 
chant sold 1,000 bbls. for export as it arrives at 37 © 38c. The re- 
cent sales reported are 100 bbls. new at 36c. ; 25 bbls., 36c. ; 250 bbls. 
old on lirivate terms, said to be 38c. At the close there is not much 
offering, and the market is steady at 37c. A Greenport, L. L, journal 
of the 5th says : 



352 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

" The season has opeued this year more successfully than ever be- 
fore. We gave a few figures last week of the first day's catch by 
some of the gaugs on Gardiuers and Peconic Bays. On Friday and ' 
Saturday Capt. J. S. Biggs took 1:4:7,500, and ou Monday he took 
250,000. Capt. Mart. Griffing also made large hauls, but we did not 
get the precise figures ; however, up to May 2d he was ' high hook," 
having taken about 670,000, while the next nearest catch was that of 
Capt. Tabnan, ^Vbo had taken 035,000. On the 1st, seven steamers, 
including two from Connecticut and two from Ehode Island, were fish- 
ing in the bays." 

May 16- 

Menhaden oil is steady, as the export sales for the past few weeks 
have left no surplus ou the market, and dealers are not very well 
supplied. The arrivals for the past week have not been large, and 
fishing is said to have fallen off a little. Tije sales reported are 20 
bbls. dark at 36c., 200 bbls. prime at 37^c., 60 bbls. at 38c., and a 
small lot of Southern at 35c. A Greenport journal says : 

"The catch of menhaden has been light this week. Unfavorable 
weather and the departure from the bays of the first ' run ' of fish, 
have prevented most of the gangs from getting many. On Tuesday, 
Capt. Tallman, of stmr. E. F. Price, took 150,000 in the ocean off East- 
ham pton." 

A Sag Harbor journal of the 10th says : 

" During the last two weeks the bunker or menhaden fishery has 
been very brisk, exceeding that of any previous season of late, both 
as to t^e fatness of the first run and as to the time of striking on 
the coast, the fish coming into our waters some two weeks earlier 
than usual, and making four to five gallons of oil to the thousand. Dur- 
ing last week the Sterling Oil- Works at Cedar Point took in 800,00i> 
fish, and in three days of the same week Wells's factory took 1,000,000." 

May 23. 

Menhaden oil is not coming to hand very freely, as the catch of 
late has not been very good, and most of the new had been sold be- 
fore for shipment. The old stock is about closed out. The sales re- 
ported are 900 bbls. old and 300 bbls. new, for shiimientat 37 © 37ic. 
50 bbls. new at 36c., and 75 bbls. at 35 ® 37c. 

May 30. 

Menhaden oil is rather easier at the close. The catch has been fair, 
but the exi)ort orders had been mostly filled, and the Iocs are now 
coming on the home markets. The sales reported are 160 bbls. at 37c., 
110 bbls. at 30ic., and 70 bbls. at 36c., with sellers at the close at 
this price. 

June 6. 

]\Ienhaden oil has been more plenty and prices have declined as 
home buyers were getting full supplies and exporters not taking. The 
market closes quiet. The sales since our last are 70 bbls. at 36^c., 
90 bbls. at 30c.. 80 bbls. at 35c., and 250 bbls. at 34c. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 353 

June 13. 
Menhaden oil has settled down to 34c., at which price there has 
been a good trade doing, and the market seems steady with the fol- 
lowing parcels placed : 400 bbls. at 35c,, 150 bbls. at 34c., 75 bbls. 
at 34c., 50 bbls. at 34c., 94 bbls. at 34c., 62 bbls. at 34c., and 110 

bbls. at 34c. 

June 20. 

Menhaden oil has come to hand quite freely, but prime quality has 

ruled steady at 34c., though some off-grade was offered to-day at 33c. 

The sales reported for the week are 250 bbls. at 34c., 80 bbls. at 

34c., 96 bbls. at 34c., and 150 bbls. at 33^c. Light strained oil can 

be had at 38c., bank at 39c., and straits at 40c. 

June 27. 

Menhaden oil has come to hand quite freely, but a good deal had 
been sold before, a small part for export. The market is steady, with 
buyers at 33c., but it would be difficult to get a much higher price for 
a round lot. The sales reported are 300 bbls. at 33c., 156 bbls. at 
33c., 67 bbls. at 33c., and 50 bbls. at o3|c. We also hear of 200 
bbls. in New Bedford on private terms. We print an item below 
which would show that the catch is large, but we hear since by let" 
ter that the fish are running poor, and the oil from them dark. 

"For the first time this season some considerable numbers of men- 
haden were taken in Gardiner's and Peconic Bays last week. On Mon- 
day Capt. E. Tallmau took 64,000 in the lower bay ; and again on Friday, 
after taking 150,000 at two dips in the ocean to the southward of Ama- 
gansett, in coming up to the factory he got 60,000 from them, makiug 
his day's catch 210,000. Capt. Israel Warner also made several good 
hauls of fish in the upper bay, the first we have heard of in that vicinity. 
While the quantity offish in the outer ocean has been practictiliy lim- 
itless, and every gang who could go outside to get them has been able 
on every fair day to make good catches, by a remarkable departure 
from the usual fact heretofore, few or no fish have entered the bays. 
Indeed, it is asserted that of all those so far rendered into oil and guano 
at the fectories on shore, or in its limits, not one million in all have, 
been caught in the bay. Opinions differ as to the cause or causes of 
this result, but the general belief is that the presence of food has been 
the determining element in the question. Food has been and continues 
abundant in the ocean, hence the fish stay outside. Except for a few 
days of thick fog the weather has been quite favorable, and many fish 
continue to be taken. 

" Greenport, L. I., June 23." 

July 4. 

Menhaden oil has ruled steady, with no great surplus offering, the 
arrivals being moderate, and some lots taken for export. The sales re- 
ported are 250 bbls. at 32^-c., 75 bbls. at 32ic. for home use, and 200 
bbls. at 33c., free on board for export. 

"Steamer E. S. Newins, Capt. J. W. Hawkins, was in port on Wednes- 
23 F 



354 EEPOET OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

day. Ou Tuesday she took 125,000 menhaden in the ocean off Quogue, 
and reports immense bodies of the fish at that place. It is also reported 
that the shore seines along the Hamptons have been taking great quan- 
tities of the fish lately. The advantage of employing steamers is shown 
stronglj' in the fact that the JSTewins on her Tuesday trip out and back 
traveled about 150 miles, a distance quite out of the question for sailing 
vessels." — Long Island Journal, June 30, 1877. 

July 11. 

Menhaden oil is not coming on the market in large lots, as a good 
deal of the arrivals are going on shipboard. The different sales for 
home use that we hear of are 78 bbls. at 32ic., 60 bbls. at 32Jc., 80 
bbls. at 32^c., 46 bbls. at 32 Jc. , and 71 bbls. at 32ic. 

July 18, 1877. 

Menhaden oil came to hand sparingly'- last week, the fishingboth in the 
Sound and on the coast of Maine having been poor for some time past. 
The reports to-day are, however, more favorable. The market has been 
steady, but not active ; no export orders at the moment. The sales 
reported are 150 bbls. at 32Ac., 58 bbls. at 33c. ; and a lot of 100 bbls. 
good, fair quality was olieriug to-day at the latter price. 

The total exports from the United States, from January to June 30th, 

were 11,010 bbls. 

July 25. 

Menhaden is in small demand for home use. The arrivals are light, 
but fully up to the wants of the trade. Prices are steady, with sales of 
110 bbls. at 32^c., and 64 bbls. at 33c. 

August 1. 

Menhaden oil has not come to baud since our last, and the receipts 

during Jul}" are probably as small as we ever knew them. The demand 

here is not large, however, and we do not know that better than 32i ® 

33c. would be paid. The catch in the Sound is only fair, and the Maine 

fishing thus far quite poor. The Boston market is poorly supplied, and 

are bidding 34c., delivered, with sales of several lots at the Connecticut 

factories at 32i ® 33c. 

August 8. 

Menhaden oil is very much stronger here, though not much higher on 
actual business. The Maine catch being light, ISlew Bedford and Boston 
dealers have had to go direct to the Long Island and Sound factories 
and buy, and we hear that they have bought at 32^ ® 33Jc. at the fac- 
tory, equal to 35c. delivered. In consequence of these sales we have had 
very littlo oil here, and these lots are promptly taken on arrival. The 
sales reported are 200 bbls. Barren Island at 33^c., and two lots of 50 

bbls. each at 33c. 

August 15. 

Menhaden oil has not come to this market to any extent of late, and 

the price is higher. There have been few sales for want of stock. We 

heard that 175 bbls. were placed at 34 ® 34^c., with 35c. now bid, and 

l)ossibly 36c. will be paid. Sales are reported in the East as high as 40c. 

Bleached oil is higher also, as well as all the other gra'^es. 



HISTORY OF THE .AMEEICAN MENHADEN. 355 

August 22. 

Meuhadeu oil is uot coming in, and the price is vecy mucti higher, with 
one sale of 100 bbls. prime at 36c., with other sales of 250 bbls. reported 
at 3oc., which price will now be paid. 

August 29. 

Menhaden oil scarce and higher, with exceedingly small arrivals, the 
Maine fishery being very poor, and Eastern dealers drawing their sup- 
plies from the Sound catch. We are receiving very little here, and our 
dealers are short of stock. The sales reported since our last are 128 
bbls. brown at 36c., and 75 bbls. select light at 38c. Strained and 
bleached are higher. 

September 5. 

Menhaden oil is scarce, and higher prices would be paid for lots, but 
there are none arriving. It is difficult to say what could be obtained, 
but probably 38c., though some dealers say they would not pay more 
than 35c. If the present scarcity continues prices will go above 40c. 
very soon. 

September 12. 

Eastern buyers are visiting the Long Island Sound lactones, picking 
up all the menhaden oil they can find. Makers are, however, generally 
holding for higher prices, expecting to get 45c. soon. One lot has beeu 
sold equivalent to 42c. delivered. 

September 19. 

Menhaden oil is scarce here, and there are no sales for want of stock ; 
prices are nominal, but a lot would probably bring somewhere near 45c. 
if nice. We hear that 500 bbls. sold in New Bedford at 45c. cash, and 
300 bbls. at works on Long Isl'd at 43c. Bleached oils are higher, and 
250 bbls. sold at 50c. 

September 26. 

Menhaden oil is not to be had, and though a higher price would be 
paid, we do uot know what it would be. It is hoped that fishing will yet 
be good before cold weather sets in. There has been a good demand for 
bleached, which is now higher alsoj sales were made of 100 bbls. at 51c., 
and 50 bbls. at 52c. 

October 3. 

Menhaden oil is still very firm, and the lots coming in are readily 
taken ac high prices. The last catch of fish at Maine was good, but all 
except two factories were closed, and the make was consequently small. 
The fishermen are now at Proviucetown, awaiting the fish as they go 
down the coast. It is hoped that the catch may yet be good, but it can- 
not make up the deficiency. The sales reported here are 2l5 bbls. at 
44c., 100 bbls. at 44c., 100 bbls. resold at 44c., and 120 bbls. at 44c. 
cash ; in New Bedford, 300 bbls. Maine at 45c., 250 bbls. at 45c., and 100 
bbls. at 45c. Bleached is firmer and in good demand, with sales of 250 

bbls. here at 52c. 

October 10. 
Menhaden oil is still in limited supply and firm in price, though we 
are reported sales by one party of 300 bbls. at 43 ® 44c. We know, how- 



ever, of sales of 150 bbls. here at 44c., and hear that there has been some 
business done in the East at 47c. 

A letter from New Haven, dated October 8, 1877, says : " The stormy- 
weather of a portion of last week reduced what would have been a small 
catch of menhaden anyway to a very meagre amount. They ran one 
grade better than previously, and it is hoped a radical change of quality 
is very near. Fishermen in the usual quality of their 'devotions' are 

l)raying for quiet weather." 

October 17. 

Menhaden oil still rules very firm with few lots to be had. There 
have been some sales of Sound made at 44 ® 45c., with none offering 
at the close that we hear of. In reference to the catch we have the fol- 
lowing under date of October 15, 1877 : 

"There were but two fishing days last week on Long Island Sound, 

owing to winds. The catch was good as to quantity, but still poor in 

quality. The season lasts but about a month longer, and impatience is 

felt for the appearance of fat fish." 

October 24. 

Menhaden has come to hand more freely the past week than at any time 
this season, and indirectly we hear that fishing at Provincetown and 
vicinity is good ; that several of the Maine factories are running on the 
fish their boats catch there, and that there is a possibility of the <le- 
ficiency being yet nearly made up, the fish being very fat. The stocks 
here In the hands of dealers are very light, but they also report a 
very moderate demand, tanners using cod, degras, and other greases in 
place of menhaden. There is a cargo of 000 bbls. of Maine oil in, a part 
of which is reported sold to a dealer at 4Gc., and sales are said to have 
been m?de in New Bedford at as high as 47c. There were sales here, 
however, of prime light Sound make of 100 bbls. on spot at 45c., and 100 
bbls. to arrive at 45c., with the close easy. Bleached is easy, and we 
do not hear of any late sales ; holders ask 52 ® 52ic. 
From New Haven, October 20, 1877, a correspondent says : 
" We do not hear that a menhaden has been caught this week any- 
where west of Massachusetts. It is hoped to be the interval between 
the change of plays, where the farce ends and the solid piece begins. 

Fat fish are now looked for daily." 

October 31, 1877. 
Menhaden has been quiet the past week, the lots coming in having 
mostly been i^laced before arrival. We only hear of a lot of 75 bbls. 
choice, which brought 45c., and other lots are offering at this figure. 

November 7. 
Menhaden oil has been offering more freely, and with buyers' ideas a 
little lower. Sales have been made of 500 bbls. at 44 <a) 45c. Bleached 
winter is quoted higher by some parties, but can still be had at 52J ® 

53c. Bank and Straits are steady. 

November 14, 1877. 

Menhaden oil has been in fair request during the past week and par- 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 357 

cols have been takeu at previous figures, and we bear of sales of 250 
bbls. Sound oil at 44^ ® 45c., IIG bbls. at 44.}c., 500 bbls. at 45c., and 250 
bbls. at 44 ® 45c. The close is rather quiet, as but few lots are offer- 
ing. Bleached is held at 53 ® 54c., with sales of 50 bbls. at 53c. Banks 
and Straits quiet and steady at 48 ® 50c. 

A correspondent from 'Sew Haven, under date of November 12, says : 
" Fat menhaden were caught the first week in this month, but owing to 
the strong winds and stormy weather the aggregate was quite small. 
Last week gave but a small quantity and they were quite poor, about 1 J 
gall, to the thousand. This week will close most of the fishinguuless there 
is a change in quantity and quality. The fishermen are greatly disap- 
pointed in the result of their fall work." 

KOVEMBER 21. 

Menhaden is strong, as the catch is now said to be about over. There 
have been sales of 300 bbls. crude at 44^ ® 45c. Bleached is jobbing 
at 53c., and a lot of 50 bbls. sold at this price, 60 days' time. 

KOVEMBER 28. 
Menhaden is firm, and prime light oil on spot will bring 45c., at which 
price we heard of a sale of 100 bbls. ; also 228 bbls. to arrive at 44_V:C., 
and 78 bbls. brown, on spot, at 44Jc. Bleached is in fair demand, with 
prices ruling about steady ; GO bbls. sold at 53c., GO days. 

Dece:\irer 5. 

Menhaden oil has ruled very firm, and there has been a good demand, 
with stocks in the hands of the dealers not large. The sales reported 
are 500 bbls. at 45c., 250 bbls. at 45c., and 280 bbls. dark at 44c. 
Bleached winter is selling fairly, and we note 150 bbls., at 52^c., with 
some now asking an advance. December 12. 

Menhaden oil is steady, but very quiet. The offerings are moderate, 
but buyers are not wanting any, except very choice of the last catch. 
We do not hear of any sales; j)rime would biing 45 © 45|e., and clioice 
light-colored 40 © 46Jc. Bleached is steady and in demand, with 100 
bbls. reported sold at 52^c. cash. Bank and Straits are in light de- 
mand at former prices. December 19. 

Menhaden oil is firm, and the lots coming to hand are readily taken. 
There was a cargo in last week, about 500 bbls., 150 bbls. of which sold 
at 44 ® 45c., 100 bbls. were delivered on a contract made early last 
summer at 33c., and the balance went into store. Bleached sold last 
week at 52^c. December 2G. 

Menhaden oil has been rather quiet, with a few lots coming in. We 
heard of a sale of 128 bbls. at 44c., but the price generally quoted is 
45c. Bleached is steady, with a sale of 50 bbls. reported at 52^ c. 

January 2, 1878. 
Menhaden oil has not sold since our last report that we hear of. A 
lot could not have been sold at its real value. We understand that 45c. 
is about the price dealers have marked their stock in taking account. 



o5b EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

APPENDIX L. 

Annual proceedrngs of the United States Menhaderi Oil and Gnano Asso- 
ciation, 

FIRST ANNUAL MEETING-. 

At a meetiug of the menhaden oil and fish guano manufacturers of 
Maine, Long Island, Connecticut, Ehode Island, and New Jersey, held 
in New York January 7, an association was formed, to be known as "The 
United States Menhaden Oil and Guano Association." A constitution 
and articles of association were adopted. 

The meeting organized with E. L. Fowler of Guilford, Conn., as chair- 
man, and Luther Maddocks, of Booth Bay, Me., as secretary. After some 
discussion a committee on statistics was appointed, with instructions to 
report as soon as possible. The committee was as follows : Mr. L. Mad- 
docks, Maine ; Mr. Church, from Ehode Island ; Mr. Price, Irom Long 
Ishrnd ; and Mr. Fairchild, from Connecticut. 

Mr. Fairchild, as chairman, reported as follows: Number of factories 
in operation, 62; amount of capital invested, $2,388,000; number of 
fishermen employed, 1,197; number of men employed at iactories, 1,109; 
number of sailing-vessels employed, 383 ; number of steamers employed, 
20; total number of fish caught, 1,193,100 barrels (250 fish to barrel); 
total of oil made, 2,214,800 gallons ; total amount of guano made, 30,299 
tons. Stock in hand of manufacturers, 484,520 gallons oil and 2,700 
tons guano. 

The meeting then voted to appoint a committee on permanent organi- 
zation and to report a constitution and by-laws. This committee con- 
sisted of Mr. J. G. Nickerson, Boston; Mr. Thomas F. Price, Greenport, 
Long Island, and Mr. H. L. Dudley, New Haven. Their report was 
accepted and the constitution adopted, and the following officers chosen 
for the ensuing year: President, Luther Maddocks, of Booth Bay, Me. ; 
vice-presidents, George F. Tuthill, Greenport, Long Island, and E. L. 
Fowler, Guilford, Conn.; secretary and treasurer, H. L. Dudley, New 
Haven ; executive committee, Luther Maddocks, Booth Bay, Me., David 
F. Vail, Eiver-head, Long Island, B. F. Brightman, Bound Pond, ]Me. 

Constitution and hy-laics of the United States Menhaden Oil and Guano 

Association. 

New York, January 7, 1874. 

Whereas the manufacture of menhaden oil and fish guano has become 
identified as one of the important industries of this country; therefore 

Besolved, That we, the manufacturers, with the view of rendering to 
each other mutual aid and assistance, do hereby form ourselves into an 
association for this purpose, and to be governed by the following con- 
stitution : 

Article 1. This association shall be called the " United States Men- 
haden Oil and Guano Association." 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 359 

' Art. 2. The ofiQcers shall be a president, two vice-presidents, secre- 
tary and treasurer, and executive committee. 

Art. 3. the president shall preside at all meetiugs of the association. 
In the absence of the president either of the vice-presidents may preside. 
In the absence of all these officers a president shall be chosen jJ'^o tern. 

Art. 4. The secretary shall keep a fnithful record of all buisness^ 
transacted at each meeting of the society, and shall notify members of 
all meetings by written or printed notice. 

Art. 5. The treasurer shall have charge of all funds belonging to the 
association, and shall pay them out only by order of the executive com- 
mittee. 

Art. 6. The executive committee shall consist of three, of which the 
president shall be one. They shall have power to raise money to meet 
the expenses of the association b^' an equitable assessment of each mem- 
ber, aud shall have a general supervision of all the affairs and business 
of the association not otherwise provided for. 

Art. 7. The annual meeting of this association shall be held on the 
2d Wednesday of January annually. The place of meeting shall be 
determined by a majority of the executive committee, and a notice shall 
be mailed by the secretary to each member of the association fifteen 
days previous to the time of meeting. 

Art. 8. Special meetings of the association may be called at any time 
by the executive committee, aud upon a written request signed by five 
members addressed to the president. Notice of all such meetiugs shall 
be mailed by the secretary to each member ten days previous to the 
time of meeting. 

xVrt. 9. Any person, or any member of any company, engaged in the 
manufacture of menhaden oil and fish guano in the United States may 
become a member of the association by subscribing to this constitution 
aud these articles of associatiou. 

Art. 10. Each firm or company shall be entitled to but one vote at 
meetings of the association. 

Art. 11. The ofiEicers of this association shall be chosen annually by 
ballot, aud shall hold their office for one year or until others are chosen. 

Art. 12. This constitution may be amended at any annual meeting, 
or special meeting called for that ipurpose, by a two-thirds vote of the 
members present. 

Art. 13. Nine members shall constitute a quorum, but a less number 
may adjourn. 



SECOND ANNUAL MEETING — 187L 

The report of the statistical committee was as follows : 

Number of factories in operation 64 

Number of men employed at factories 871 

Number of sail vessels ... 283 

Number of steamers 25 



360 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

li^amber of men employed in fishing 1, 567 

Amount of capital invested $2, 500, 000 

l^Tumber of fish caught 492, 878, 000 

Estimated in barrels 1, 478, 634 

Tons of guano made 50, OVG 

Gallons of oil made 3, 372, 837 

Guano on hand January 13, 1875 . , tons . . 5, 200 

Oil on hand January 13, 1875 gallons . . * 648, 000 

THIRD ANNUAL MEETING — 1875. 

The third annual meeting of this association was held at the Aldrich 
House, Providence, E. I., January 12, 1876. The following-named man- 
ufacturers were present: E. L. Fowler, Connecticut; L. Maddocks, 
INIaine; F. E. Colburn, Connecticut; E. T. Dublois, Ehode Island j 
George W. Miles, Connecticut ; B. F. Brightman, Maine ; Daniel T. 
Church, Ehode Island ; William J. Brightman, Ehode Island ; Isaac 
Brown, Ehode Island ; Jolin Southworth, Ehode Island ; Frederick 
Gallup, Connecticut; B. F. Gallup, Connecticut ; S. Jones, New York; 
Y. Koon & Son, New York ; J. H. Bishop, Connecticut, William Holmes, 
Connecticut ; Job T. Wilson, Massachusetts ; H. L, Dudley, Connec- 
ticut. 

The president, E. L. Fowler, being in the chair, the minutes of the 
last meeting were read and approved. 

The treasurer's report was read, examined, and accepted. 

The committee on statistics reported as follows : 

Number of factories in operation in 1874 64 

Number of factories in operation in 1875 60 

Decrease ... 4 

Number of men employed in 1874 2, 438 

Number of men employed in 1875 2, 633 

Increase * 195 

Number of sailing-vessels employed in 1874 28:w 

Number of sailing-vessels employed in 1875 304 

Increase 21 

Number of steam-vessels employed in 1874 25 

Number of steam- vessels employed in 1875 39 

Increase , 14 

* The full records of this meeting were uot to be obtained. 



mSTOEY OF TBE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 3G1 

Number of fish caught in 1874 492, 878, 000, or 1, G42, 927 barrels. 

Number of fish caught iu 1875 563, 327, 000, or 1, 877, 707 barrels. 

Increase 70, 449, 000, or 734, 840 barrels. 

Number of gallons of oil made in 1874 _ . 3, 372, 847 

Number of gallons of oil made in 1875 2, 681, 487 

Decrease G91, 300 

Number of tons of guano made in 1874 50, 970 

Number of tons of guano made in 1875 53, 625 

Increase ,, 2,649 

Amount of capital invested in 1875 $2, 500, 000 

Amount of capital invested in 1876 2, 050, 000 

Increase 150, 000 

Number of gallons of oil held by manufacturers January 

12,1875 648,000 

Number of gallons of oil held by manufacturers January 

12, 1876 125,000 

Number of gallons in manfacturers' hands less than at an- 
nual meeting in 1875 523,000 

Number of tons guano held by manufacturers January 12, 

1875 5,200 

Number of tons guano held by manufacturers January 12, 

1876 .... 1,850 

Number of tons guano held by manufacturers, less than in 

1875 3,350 

The following officers were elected for the ensuing year: President, 
E. L. Fowler, Guilford, Conn.; first vice-president, B. Frank Galluj), 
Groton, Conn.; second vice president, Daniel T. Church, Tiverton, R. I.; 
secretary and treasurer, H. L. Dudley, New Haven, Conn. ; executive 
committee, E. L. Fowler, Connecticut, V. Koon, New York, Isaac Brown, 
Ehode Island. 

A letter from the Hon. S. L. Goodale, of Saco, Me., was presented to 
the association by Mr. Maddocks, and read by the secretary. It was 
listened to with much pleasure and interest, and the secretary was di- 
rected to incorporate the substance of the letter in his report. It stated 
that the writer had discovered a process for making, from the juices of. 



362 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

the menbaden, an extract similar to the article now so extensively man- 
ufactured and sold as '' extract of beef," and that the juices of the men- 
haden were better for this purpose than those of any other fish yet 
tested. Mr. Goodale is confident that " now, for the first time, is the 
trne function of this fish in the economy of nature recognized," and 
that the time is not far distant when the inlncipal product sought for 
Irom it will be its concentrated juices, while the quantity of oil and 
scrap obtained will not be noticeably diminished, as this process util- 
izes that portion of the fish which has formerly been, and by the present 
mode of manufacture is still, allowed to go to waste. In support of 
his discovery, Mr. Goodale quotes from a letter received from that emi- 
nent and reliable chemist. Prof. Samuel W. Johnson, of Yale College, 
as follows: " I cannot doubt that the fish extract is entirely new, and, 
iis food, is equal to beef extract in all respects (except, possibly, in the 
matter of iron), and, if put into the market in proper shape, would 
shortly share the patronage now so largely bestowed on beef extract." 
It is hoped that some practical test of this discovery will soon be made. 

Some interesting facts and figures were presented by Messrs. Mad- 
docks, Brightman, and Church, upon the shrinkage of fish during the 
process of manufacture, and in the difference in yield of scrap from the 
same number of fish at different factories. 

An article was read from the New York Commercial Bulletin giving 
some facts concerning the foreign and domestic trade in fish scrap. 
Some four thousand tons of scrap were stated to have been recently 
shipped to Liverpool and Queenstown, as the result of some exi)eri- 
mental shipments made last year. There is also a growing demand in 
the West Indies. It is evident that both the foreign and domestic de- 
mand for fish scrap is rapidly increasing. 

The following resolution was freely discussed and unanimously passed: 

" Ecsolved, That all guano or scrap manufactured by members of this 
association shall be sold at the weight taken at the factory of the 
seller." 

Particular attention is called to the above resolution, as it is a matter 
of no little importance whether the scrap is weighed at the place of 
shipment or place of delivery, and there is no doubt the buyers of scrap 
Mill see the justice of this resolution and readily accede to it. All 
present pledged themselves to rigidly adhere to the resolution. 

An adjourned meeting of the association will be held at the Aldrich 
House, Providence, K. I., on Wednesday, April 5, 187G, at 10 o'clock 

a. m. 

H. L. DUDLEY, Secretary. 
New Haven, January 15, 1876. 



mSTORY OF THE AMEEICAN MENHADEN. 363 
FOURTH ANNUAL MEETING. 

The fourth annual meeting of this association was held at the United 
States Hotel, ISTew York, January 10, 1877, the president, E. L. Fowler, 
in the chair. The minutes of the last meeting were read and accepted ; 
the treasurer's report was read and accepted ; the committee on statis- 
tics reported as follows : 

Number of factories in operation in 187G 61 

In umber of factories in operation in 1875 60 

Gain 4 

Number of sail-vessels employed in 1876 320 

Number of sail- vessels employed in 1875 304 

Gain IG 

Number of steam-vessels employed in 1876 46 

Number of steam-vessels employed in 1875 „ . . . 39 

Gain , 7 

Number of men employed in 1876 L', 758 

Number of men emp oyed in 1875 _, G33 

Gain 125 

Amount of capital invested in 1876 $2, 750, 000 

Amount of capital invested in 1875 2, 650, 000 

Gain 100,000 

Number of fish caught in 1876 512, 450, 000 

Number of fish caught in 1875 563,327,000 

Loss 50,877,000 

Estimated by barrels in 1876 ... 1, 535, 885 

Estimated by barrels in 1875 ljS77, 767 

Loss , 341,883 

Number of gallons of oil made in 1876 2, 902, OCO 

Number of gallons of oil made in 1875 2, 681 , 487 

Gain 310,513 



3G4 EEPOKT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

Number of tous of giiano made iu 187G 51, 245 

Number of tons of guano made in 1875 53, G25 

Loss 2, 380 

Number of gallons of oil held by manufacfurers January 10, 

1877 2G4, 000 

Number of gallons of oil held by manulacturers January 12, 

187G ". *125,000 



In excess of amount held January, 187G 139, 000 

Number of tons of guano held by manufacturers January 10, 

1877 7,275 

Number of tons of guano held by manufacturers January 12, 

1876., 5,200 



In excess of amount held January 12, 1876 2, 075 



The report of the committee on statistics was accepted. This report 
is believed to be the most accurate and full of any yet obtained ly the 
association, and the committee are much indebted to Mr. Jasper Pryer 
for information received and assistance rendered. The officers were 
chosen for the ensuing year by ballott, and were as follows : President, 
E. L. Fowler, Guilford, Conn.; first vice-presitlent, Daniel T. Church, 
Tiverton, E. I. ; second vice-president, B. Frank Gallup, Groton, Conn. ; 
secretary and treasurer, H. L. Dudley, New Haven, Conn. ; executive 
committee, E. L. Fowler, Guilford, Conn., George F. Tuthill, Green- 
port, N. Y,, B. F. Brightman, Eound Pond, Me. 

Application for admission as members was made by persons not man- 
ufacturers of, but dealers in, oil and guano. After some discussion it 
was decided to postpone any action upon the matter until the next 
annual meeting, notice ot which is to be given to the applicants by the 
secretary. Hon. S. L. Goodale, o-f Saco, Me., made an address upon the 
food properties of the menhaden, and produced samples of an extract 
obtained from menhaden, which has been pronounced by the most emi- 
nent scientific authorities quite equal in luitritious properties to the 
well-known beef extract. The menhaden extract was sampled by the 
association, and not unfavorably compared with the beef extract, a 
sample of which was also on trial. It is hoped that the successful 
development of this new branch of the menhaden industry is not far 
distant. A vote of thanks was given Mr. Goodale for his address. 

* N. B. — la the estimate of oil iield by manufacturers, January 12, 1876, oil at New- 
Bedford was not included, therefore the stock held January, 1877, by manufacturers, 
is about the same as that of January, 1870 ; but it was deemed best to include in this 
aad future reports all oil held by manufacturers, or for their account, and thus present 
a full report of all the oil unsold, or to be put into market, by manufacturers. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. o6.) 

Encouraging statements in regard to foreign demand for fish guano 
weremade by Mr. Pryer, representing Messrs. Jed. Frye «& Co., shipments 
having been made to Europe by this firm during the past season. More 
attention is being given to the drying of the fish scrap, as in that form 
all of our product may be exported at fair prices. A communication 
from a gentleman engaged in foreign trade was read by Mr. George V. 
Tuthill, stating that 30,000 tons of the dried fish scrap could be sold 
annually in Italy, and parties were ready to make contracts for full 
cargoes. It is probable that a large quantity w ill be sent abroad the 
coming season. 

After some discussion upon fixing a time and place for the next meet- 
ing, a vote was passed amending article 7 of the constitution. As 
amended the article reads as follows : "Article 7. The annual meeting 
of this association shall be held in January, annually, and the time and 
place of meeting shall be determined by a majority of the executive 
committee, and a notice shall be mailed by the secretary to each mem- 
ber of this association fifteen days previous to the time of meeting." 
As the meeting of the Maine association was held in Boston the day 
before our meeting, our attendance was small. Another year, probably, 
the time and place of meeting of this association will be arranged to 
suit the convenience of a large number of its members. 

H. L. DUDLEY, Secretary. 



FIFTH ANNUAL MEETINQ. 

The fifth annual meeting of this association was held at the City 
Hotel, Providence, E. I., January 9, 1878, the president, R. L. Fowler, 
in the chair. In the absence of the secretary, Luther Maddocks, esq., 
was appointed secretary pro tempore. 

The minutes of the last meeting were read and approved. Treasurer's 
report read and accepted. The officers elected for the ensuing year 
were: President, E. L. Fowler, Guilford, Conn.; first vice-president, Dan- 
iel T. Church, Tiverton, R. I. ; second vice president, B. Frank Gallup, 
Groton, Conn.; secretary and treasurer, IT. L. Dudley, New Haven, 
Conn.; executive committee, E. L. Fowler, Guilford, Conn., Isaac 
Brown, Tiverton, E. I., George W. Miles, Milford, Conn. 

Voted^ To assess each member one dollar, the same to be collected by 
the treasurer. 

Isaac Brown, The Narragansett Oil Company, and J. G. White were 
admitted to membership in the association. 

Voted, That the next annual meeting of the association be held in 
New York City. 

Voted, That any firm or company belonging to the association may be 
represented at its meetings by proxy. 



386 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

The committee on statistics reported as follows : 

Number of factories in operation in 187G G4 

Number of factories in operation in 1877 50 

Loss 8 

Number of sail- vessels employed in 187G 320 

Number of sail-vessels employed in 1877 270 

Loss 50 

Number of steam-vessels employed in 1876 40 

Number of steam-vessels employed in 1877 63 

Gain ,.., 17 

Number of men employed in 1876.... o 2,758 

Number of men employed in 1877 , 2, 631 

Loss 127 

Amount of capital invested in 1876 $2, 750, 000 

Amount of capital invested in 1877 2, 047, 612 

Loss . . *$702, 388 

Number of fish caught in 1876 512,450, 000 

Number of fish caught in 1877 , . . 587, 624, 125 

Gain , 75,174,125 

Number of fish caugbt, estimated by barrels, in 1870 1, 70S, 163 

Number of fish caught, estimated by barrels, in 1877 1, 958, 747 

Gain 250, 581 

Number of gallons oil made in 1876 ... 2, 992, 000 

Number of gallons oil made in 1877 2,426,589 

Loss 560, 589 

Number of tons guano made in 1870 51, 245 

Number of tons guano made in 1877 55, 444 

Gain 4, 199 



* The difference in capital reported in 1877 from 1876, is mainly represented by fac- 
tories not in operation, and is more properly idle capital than "loss." — Secketauy 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 307 

111 3877, 5,700 tons of dried scrap were made by the oil and guano 
manufacturers. 

Number of gallons oil held by manufacturers January 10, 

1877 2C4, 000 

Number of gallons oil held by manufacturers January 9, 

1878 8G, 000 

Amount less than in 1877 178, 000 



Number of tons guano held by manufacturers January 10, 

1877 7, 275 

Number of tons guano held by manufacturers January 9, 

1878 1 , 040 



Amount less than in 1877 5, G35 



After the report had been accepted and committee discharged, the 
secretary pro tempore read a paper from Dr. Maylert on the subject of 
scrap-drying. Eemarks upon the same subject were also made by Pro- 
fessor D'Homergue. 

Prof. S. L. Goodale then addressed the association upon his method 
of extracting or liberating the oil from fish scrap. A general discussion 
then took place upon the subject of scrap-drying, and the several new 
methods proposed to accomplish the object. Much attention is being 
given to this important matter, and the amount of scrap dried the past 
season was probably double that of any former year, and as the demand 
is increasing each year, and the saving in ammonia in the dried mate- 
rial is so large an item, it is hoped that some simple, inexpensive method 
will soon be found for accomplishing the desired results. The meeting 
of the association was quite fully attended, and the most interesting yet 
held. 

The statistics gathered are believed to be the most accurate of anj^ 
yet obtained. . The stocks on hand, of both oil and guano, are very 
small. The outlook for the comiug season is quite favorable, and better 
prices will doubtless be obtained than for the past few years. Ammo- 
niacal matter is scarce, and in demand at good prices. 

H. L. DUDLEY, Secretary. 



3G8 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 





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HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 373 

APPENDIX K 

STATEMENTS OF CORRESPONDENTS. 

These statements are given in the words of the correspondents, being- 
answers to the circular reproduced in Appendix A. The numbers of 
the answers correspond to those of the questions in the circular. All 
the statements included in this appendix have been reviewed in the 
main report. The commission does not necessarily indorse them. 

1. Statement of W. H. Sargent, Castine, Me., January 2Q and December 28, 

1874. 

1. Menhaden and pogy, interchangeably. 

2. Most abundant. 

3. Not so numerous in creeks, coves, inlets, «S:c., but on the coast, out- 
side of small bodies, it is not decreased. 

4. Friend & Co., 25,000 barrels; Allen & Co., 15,000; others, 85,000. 
In the years from 18G3 to 18G8, some years 500,000 barrels were taken. 

5. It does ; especially around and near shores. 

G. About the 25th of May. Main body arrives about the middle ot 
June. The last are largest and fattest, usually. Usually two principal 
schools; the first large school, June 15 ; the last, September 1 to 10. 

7. Swim high. Always make their arrival known by their ripple. 

8. Come from the south, between Cape Cod and Cape Sable. Usually 
first seen just outside of headlands; and as they come into bays, rivers, 
&c., the main body breaks up. 

9. Their appearance is certain. More abundant some seasons. Some 
seasons they are abundant on the coast of Massachusetts and scarce on 
the coast of Maine. No two give reasons alike. 

10. Undoubtedly catching by any method tends to frighten them ; 
but running refuse water and other refuse from the fish does more harm. 

11. They follow the tide in and out creeks, coves, &c. 

12. They seem to prefer the still waters of our bays, coves, &c. 

13. They are a surface fish, but are sometimes caught thirty feet 
below. 

14. I judge that it does, as they go south on the approach of cold 
weather. 

15. The fish of the same school are uniform in size; some schools 
larger than others. 

IG. I have never seen them or heard of them. 

17. They usually leave in October. I have known them plenty in 
November, but not often. I think they leave mostly together; some 
schools linger. 

18. Outside route. General course south. 

19. Have no established opinion. 



374 KEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

20. They seldom take bait ; very small fish are found in tbem. 

22. Cannot: I think they are mixed indiscriminately. 

32. Large quantities are devoured by sharks, horse-mackerel, whales, 
porpoises, and other fish of prey. 

3J: and 35. Gill-nets and seines. Gill-nets are from 30 to 80 feet long, 
and from 7 to 10 feet deep; seines are from .50 to 100 fathoms in length, 
and 5 to 15 fathoms deep. 

3G. All kinds and sizes. Seine-boats are uniform in size and build; 
they have no deck. About 35 feet long and 15 feet beam. 

37. Two men can manage nets ; a seine requires from 10 to 15. 

38. When fish are plenty, nothing but darkness interrupts. 

39. They are not, except in shoal-water places, where they are taken 
at high tide. 

40. They "school" best in calm weather; consequently more easily 
taken. 

41. I should judge there were 75 vessels of all sizes employed, and 
from four to five hundred men and boys. Very many who live on the 
shores fish with nets, tending their nets with small boats, hardly going 
out of sight of their homes for the season. 

42. Nearly all are pressed for the oil ; many are used for fish-bait ; 
mostly shipped to Boston. 

43. There are two or three factories owned by Ehode Island and New 
York parties, not worked so much now as formerly. E. A, Friend & 
Co., of Brooklin, are the largest resident manufacturers, but there are 
about one hundred smaller or private concerns who carry on the busi- 
ness in connection with other business. 

44. The aggregate, 1,025 barrels. Friend, about 700 barrels; Chatto, 
350 barrels. 

46. Large factories, steam ; smaller ones, the common bed-screw. 

47. Slivered, they are worth, put up, about $G j)er barrel ; in 1SG3 they 
were worth $4 ; prices vary with the quantity. 

48. When poor, July, 200 ; very poor, 1st June, 250 ; fat, August, 
150 ; very fat, October, 100. 

49. About one ton of scrap is obtained in making three barrels of oil. 

50. Three quarts is the least I ever knew ; from the first school. 

51. Six gallons is the most I ever knew ; from the last school. 

52. Yes. 

53. The first oil made in this region was made by a man named Bart- 
lett, residing on an island in the town of Bluehill, Uancock County, 
Maine. About the year 1837 he sent a small phialfull to Boston to have 
it tested. Meeting with encouragement, he commenced in a small way 
to manufacture by setting a common iron kettle over a fire, filling the 
kettle with fish, and with a strong cover under a heavy beam, "cider- 
press" fashion, pressing the oil into a vat. From that time the manu- 
facture increased fast in this section. For about twenty years gill-nets 
were used exclusively for taking the fish. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 375 

54. Boston. 

55. Much is used by farmers in the vicinity of its manufacture, but a 
larger quantity is shipped to Boston, New York, and Baltimore. 

56. Generally, I think, for lubricating purposes. 

57. In 1873 and four previous years, from 35 to 46 cents a gallon. In 
1862, 81.40 a gallon. 

58. It is certain that they have diminished on this coast. 



2. Statement of J. C. Condon, Belfast, Me. Communicated by Marshall 
Davis, deputy collector, Belfast, Me. 

Your circular, addressed to this office, making inquiries relative to a 
species of fish found here and called by us pogy, was duly received, and 
I have the honor to return to you the following answers to your ques- 
tions, the most of which I will here state were obtained from Mr. J. C. 
Condon, of this place, who for some years has been engaged to some 
extent in catching the fish and manufacturing the pogy oil. 

1. Your first question I have already answered. We call them pogy. 

2. The fish are quite abundant here. 

3. Their numbers have diminished. 

4. Two thousand barrels of fish in this (Castine) district. 

5. It does not appear to, here. 

6. The first of June are first seen ; most abundant the last of June 
and into July; come in schools. The second school usually comes ten 
days later than the first, and the fish are larger, the first being the 
younger fish. 

7. They swim near the surface and make a ripple on the water. 

8. They follow the coast from the south. 

9. They come every year, but some years later than others. 

10. Much fishing with nets would frighten them farther from the 
shore. 

11. Will school out with the ebb, and in with flood. 

12. Inside schools come up into the bays near the shore and outside 
schools play from Portland to Mount Desert. Inside schools are younger 
and smaller fish. 

13. The depth of water makes no difference, as they swim near the 
surface. 

14. They seek warmer water in fall and winter. 

15. They breed south and do not reach here until two or three years 
old. 

16. No fish are found here younger than two or three years. 

17. They leave in October and November in a body. 

18. Follow the coast southerly. 

19. On the southern coast. 



376 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

20. The most that ia found in them that seems to be their food, is a 
small seedlike-lookirig substance called by fisherman brit. 

21. They spawn in southern waters, it is supposed. 

22. They go in schools, and not in pairs. 

23. We cannot answer that here. 

24. We presume warmer than the water here. 

25. In shallow water it is supposed. 

31. A sort of spider is found on the back of the fish, near the fin, the 
spider having a tail that looks like moss. 

32. Whales live on them and sharks and bluefish devour them. 

33. IsTever have known anything like disease appear among them. 

34. They are caught with seines and nets. 

35. The seines are 150 fathoms long and 20 fathoms deep. Nets 20 
fathoms long and 4 deep. 

36. The vessels used in taking them are sail- vessels of 50 tons burden, 
and small steamboats of 100 tons. 

37. Ten men are wanted for one vessel, and one seine. 

38. They fish all day. 

39. They are taken equally well on flood or ebb tide. 

40. The wind has no perceivable effect upon them. 

41. There are, in this district, about 25 vessels, with 5 men to each. 

42. The fish are caught here for oil and mackerel bait. 

43. There are two small oil-factories here, one owned by J. C, Condon 
(of whom I get this information) and one by J. O. Mayo. 

44. Condon makes 50 barrels and Mayo 25 per year. 
45 and 4G. Their factories could produce much more. 

47. Sixty cents per barrel of 200 pounds of fish. 

48. Cue barrel fish will make (ordinarily) three gallons of oil. 

49. One ton of scrap will make 30 gallons oil. 

50. The first fish that come in the spring will produce but one gallon 
oil to a barrel of fish. 

51. In October a barrel of fish will produce from 4 to 5 gallons oil. 

52. The northern fish yield four times as much oil as southern. 

53. About twenty years ago, a woman living at Buck's Harbor, in 
Brooksville, was frying some of the fish to eat, and observing how very 
full of oil they were, suggested to her husband that it would pay to try 
them out for the oil, and he having an eye to interest, tried the experi- 
ment, by using their washboiler to try them and their tub for a press. 
In this way they made one barrel of oil, carried it to Boston and sold it 
to a Mr. Eben Philips, an old oil-dealer, who at once saw money in the 
enterprise, and so furnished these people with nets, kettles, and a press 
for their next year's business, the product of which was eight barrels of 
oil. After that, others seeing their prosperity, went into the business, 
which from that has grown to its present amount. 

54. The oil is marketed mostly in Boston. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 377 

55. The scrap is mostly sold here to farmers for dressing tbeir land. 
50. The oil is mostly used for currier purposes in dressing leather. 
67. The oil has sold at prices varying from 40 to 50 cents per gallon. 
5S. We presume it does somewhat. 



3. Statement of B. A. Friend, BroolcUn, Me. 

1. Pogy. 

2. Greatly in excess. 

3. Apparently as plenty as in past years. 

4. About 14,000 in 1873 ; 23,000 in 1874. 

5. It does not. 

G. Main body arrives from first to middle of June; usually three 
runs. 

7. High ; ripple on water ; attract birds. 

8. By south channel. 

9. Regular and certain. 

10. It does not. 

11. They go with the tide. 

12. In large bays. 

13. No special depth j unknown. 

14. It does. 

16. Never. 

17. From the middle of September to the middle of October; by 
degrees. 

18. Following the coast. 

19. South. 

20. I should think vegetable nature. 

21. Mostly south of Cape Cod. 

31. Frequently have jiggers attached. 

32. To a great extent. 

33. Not here. 

34. Seines and mash-nets. 

35. Seines 8,000 meshes long, G50 deep ; gill-nets 3 to 5 fathoms deep, 
20 fathoms long. 

36. Small schooners and steamers, with luggers; from 5 to 100 tons. 

37. Seine, 12 men ; gill-nets, 3 to 5. 

38. Seines, all times of day ; nets, morning and evening. 

39. Most on ebb-tide. 

40. It seems to. 

41. Five; fifty-five. 

42. Manufactured for oil and scrap ; sent away to factories. 

43. Robert A. Friend, P. Kane, Haniman Point Company, Job T. 
Wilson & Co. 

44. Averaged 14,000 gallons the past two years. 



45. K. A. Friciul oO.OOO gallons; Job T. \Vilson ."".0,000 .iiallons ; P. 
Kaiio 15.000 gallons: Ilarriman Point Company 20,000 gallons. 

40. Job T. Wilson, stoani ; K. A. Fronoli, steam and pot works; 
others, pot-works. 

47. Sixty-live eents (1878). 

60. Two quarts: in .Inne. 

51. Four gallons ; last of August. 

53. First made by William Pomer; oil taken trom pots where fish 
were eooked tor fowls. 

54. Boston. 

55. Boston, Philadelphia, and Baltimore. 
- 50. Painting and enrrying. 

57. Fortytive eents : Irom 30 eents to $1.27. 
5S, It is not. 



4. Statement of John Gront, Matinicus Light Station, Matiniciis Eoi'l; 

Maine, March 31, 1874. 

1. Menhaden or pogy. 

2. More abundant than any fish except herring. 

3. diminished. 

4. Xo regular establishment or faetory is run in this vieinity. 

5. I think it does. 

0. About the 1st of June. The larger body eome about the middle 
or last of June. The last seliools are the largest and fattest. There are 
commonly several sehools at irregular intervals. 

7. They swim high, making a ripple, and freipiently showing their 
fins and attracting seagulls and other birds in great numbers. 

8. They eome ln>m the south, and when driven into bays and rivers 
by large tish they inhabit one locality for several weeks at a time. 

0. Eegular. 
10. Yes. 

12. Between Seguin and 31atinieus Poek and the bays and mouths of 
rivers between these points. 

13. Usually on or near the suiface of the water, but sometimes at the 
depth of 20 or 30 fathoms. 

15. Yes. 

10. No very young ones. 

17. About the middle of October, in a body. 

18. liy the same, as they came rather working westward. 
10. South of Cape Uatteras, near the Culf Stream. 

20. Some Uoating substance on or n(\ir the surface of the water. 

21. Probably near the edge of the stream, south of Uatteras, during 
the winter season. 

28. 1 have found them in Ilamptou Eoads iu early spring, when they 
■were not more than two inches. ' 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 379 

29. N3. 

31. No. 

32. Considerably. The whale, I tbiuk, is their greatest enemy. Ris- 
ing beneath the schools, as they play upon the water, with extended 
jaws, he forces himself up through them with such speed as to project 
his body half out of water, closing his jaws over large quantities of fish 
as he falls heavily back. 

33. Xo. 

34. Seines from 150 to 300 fathoms in length and 20 fathoms in depth, 
and nets about 30 fathoms in length and from 2 to 3 fathoms in depth. 

35. Answered above. 

3G. Small schooners. Recently fifteen to twenty small steamers have 
been employed, the tonnage of which amounts to 1,5U0 tons. 

37. About 500 men. 

38. The fish are taken by some fishermen with set nets whenever 
they come to the surface. 

39. Xo. 

40. They " school " or come to the surface best in moderate winds and 
calms. 

41. No vessels are fitted out for this business in this immediate 
vicinity, but large quantities of fish are taken between this station and 
jMonhegan by vessels from other parts of the coast. 

48. About 250. 

50. One and a half gallons, when the first fish appear on the coast. 

51. Three gallons. About the 1st of October. 

52. Yes. 

53. Can give no definite history. 

54. Boston and Portland. 
56. Painting and tanning. 
58, Undoubtedly. 



5. Statement of Benjamin F. Brir/htman, Waldodorottgh, Me,, March 18, 

1874. 

1. Pogy. 

2. The most abundant, to all appearances, as we see these and do not 
see the other kinds. 

3. About the same, I think. 

4. There were taken in the mine about 350,000 barrels by all the fac- 
tories, viz: Bristol, Bremen, Joseph Church & Co., Round Pond, Loud's 
Island, L. Brightman & Sons, Judson Tarr & Co., Union, Wells Deblois 
& Brown, Keuuiston, Cobb & Co., Gallup & Manchester, Gallup & 
llolmes, J. G. Nickerson, L. Maddocks, factories the present year, and 
about the same in previous years. 

5. See no ditference. 

G. About the 1st of June the first fish make their appearance, usually 
scattering ; commence taking in seines about the 15th. They are poor 



380 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

then, and rather smaller than the fish caught in August and September, 
when we go ofi' shore from 5 to 30 miles and get larger and fatter 
fish. We commence about the 15th of June, and fish until the loth of 
October. 

7. High and low both. When they are up and we can <see them we 
get them, and when down we cannot fish, so that some days there will 
be good fishing and others none at all. On the seine-ground, cannot 
tell how deep they swim when they are down. We usually catch them 
here by seeing them play. Sometimes they ripple the water. 

8. From southeast to the southwest, and generally lay along the 
coast; they are seen from Cape Sable to Cape Ann, off and on shore 
around Cape Cod, in the season of them — that is, an outside fish and 
an inside fish. Fish in the bays and rivers are called inside, and on the 
ocean called outside. In Maine, the fishing is done outside nearly alto- 
gether. 

. 9. About the same for the last ten years. The fish go where the feed 
is. 

10. See no difference. 

11. Has no effect here. 

12. Usually deep water. 

13. We fish in deep and shoal water. Do not know how deep they 
swim. 

14. Tn a sunshiny day we see them most. 

15. Never saw any fish here that looked as though they came here 
to breed; there is some difference in the size, but could not define their 
age. The smaller fish go into the rivers. 

16. Never saw a young fish north of Cape Cod, or old fish that looked 
like spawning. 

17. The fish start to go west from here about the middle of September, 
and go by degrees up to the last of October. 

18. They seem to run along the coast southwesterly. 

20. It is a substance in the water which is sometimes seen ; I never 
examined it particularly. Something like a seed or a very small lobster, 
or rather has this appearance; it is about one-fourth of an inch long; 
do not see as much of that here as in Narragansett Bay. 

21. From the south side of Cape Cod to the Albemarle Sound, in all 
the inland waters and rivers, mostly in the southern waters, com- 
mencing south about the 1st of March and in Narragansett Bay in 
May. 

22. Think the spawning fish leave the main body and scatter about in 
l)airs or small schools and in shoal water. 

23. Never saw the operation, but have noticed in the smoother waters 
in the night that the fish came close in to the shore in shoal water, and 
the supposition was that they were spawning. I have seen a hauliug- 
seine haul on shore the spawns all ready to hatch. 

24. The water is rather cold in the spawning season. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 381 

25. Any depth, but usually iu shoal water, on the bottom. 

26. Lay on the bottom. 

27. In about six weeks after bein<^ laid. 

28. They are in great abundance; saw more young fish in Narragan- 
sett Bay last season than ever before, but their usual spawning-grounds 
are south as far as Cape Lookout, mostly about the Potomac and Delat- 
ware Bay and joining shores. 

29. Never saw the spawn running from the fish. We never catch 
them with the purse-seine for tbe reason that they leave the body of tish 
and scatter about. The spawning fish are amoug the first to arrive. 

30. Do not know as I ever saw menhaden spawn in any other fish. 
The parent fish do not devour them. 

31. Have seen a small crab in the fish, just under the scales, with an 
appendage about an inch long; never saw anything in or around the 
mouth. 

32. They suffer to a great extent from bluefish, horse mackerel, por- 
poise, sharks, whales, dog-fish, &c. 

33. I^ever saw auy diseases about them. 

34. There are a great many caught iu gill-nets in the first part of the 
season, but not so many here as formerly. The nets are made of fine cotton 
twine, about 4 inches mesh, and all set or anchored; the fish run into 
them and put their heads through the mesh. They are about 20 fathoms 
loug and 12 feet deep. 

35. The purse-seines here are made from 200 to 225 fathoms long 
and 100 feet deep in the middle and 70 at the ends made of fine cotton 
twine. 

30. A small schooner of about 30 tons, with two or three open boats 
candying about 200 barrels each, two men in each boat. The crew live 
on board the tender and lay on the fishing-grounds and the boats carry 
the fish to the works. The most of the fish here are caught in steamers 
of about GO tons, from 30 to 50 horse-puwer. The steamers work better 
than sail gangs, on account of running in calm weather; there are 17 
in the eastern fleet ; they f>arry from 500 to 1,2U0 barrels each. 

37. From 10 to 12 men to each gang. 

38. Usually iu the naorning, from daylight to ten o'clock, or just at 
night. Iu calm weather-all day. 

39. Eather better on the rising tide. 

40. We cannot keep run of the fish as well when the wind blows. 

41. Fifty-four gangs, of from 10 to 12 men each. This comprises the 
section between the Kenuebec and Penobscot Rivers. Tliere is nothing 
done in Maine outside of this section except one or two gangs iu Blue 
Hill Bay, and the next fishing-grounds are at Narragansett Bay, west, 
and around Long Island. 

42. Carried to the factories in this vicinity. 

43. The most are stock companies, but some are owned by individuals. 
This question is answered in question 4. 



382 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

44. From 25,000 to 225,000 gallons, according to capacity. There is a 
great difference in the capacity; three factories here made one-quarter 
of the oil and one-sixth of the scrap made in the whole country. 

45. From 40,000 to 500,000 gallons, if they could get fish and they 
were fat enough. 

4G. The cost of factories, including machinery, varies from $10,000 to 
$70,000, not including fish-gear and gangs. 

47. Sixty-five cents were paid the last two years, but they have been 
as high as $1 when oil was higher. 

48. Our eastern fish average about 2^ gallons to the barrel. 

49. From 30 to 40 barrels. 

50. Our first fish make about three quarts to the barrel; only a few of 
these caught. 

51. Four gallons in August and September, when we go to sea after 
the fish. 

52. The average is greater north, although the fattest fish caught last 
year, Southold Bay, Long Island, 7 gallons to the barrel. 

53. The fact6ries in Maine were built ten years ago. Since then there 
have been some tweuty built ; there are fourteen in operation now, or 
will be in the season of fishing. 

54. Boston and New York. 

55. The manufacturers of superphosphate use principal part of it, 
although the farmers use it as it comes from the factory ; it is too strong 
of ammonia to use raw, varying from 7 to 12 per cent. 

56. Mostly used for tanners' oil. 

57. Forty to sixt}^ cents per gallon. Have known it to be sold for $1 .35 
per gallon. 

58. Do not see any variation for the last ten years. 



6. Statement of L. Haddocks^ Booth Bay, 3Ie., December 25, 1877. 

The names and. tonnage of my steamers are as follows: Steamer 
Mabel Bird, 80 tons; steamer M. M. Fish, 80 tons; steamer Grace Dar- 
ling, 75 tons ; steamer Phebe, 70 tons; steamer S. L. Goodale, 70 tons; 
steamer H. M. Price, 20 tons. 



7. Statement of 0. B. Eenniston, Booth Bay, Me., Fchruary 14, 1874. 

1. Known about equally as pogy and menhaden. 

2. It is found in numbers almost incomparably greater than any other. 

3. Increased. 

4. In this town (Booth Bay), in 1873, were taken 152,000 barrels, as 
follows: Kenniston, Cobb & Co., 17,(i00; Gallup and Holmes, 17,000; 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 383 

Gallup and INIaucbester, 25,000 ; Suffolk Oil Works, 48,000 ; Atlantic 
Oil Works, 45,000. In 1873 the aggregate reached about 110,000 barrels. 
In 1871, with six factories instead of five, were taken about 95,000 
barrels. In 1870 less than 75,000 barrels were taken, while in 18G6, tho 
first year of work here, not more than 35,000 barrels were taken. The 
great difference in these results maybe ascribed to three causes: (1.) 
The fishermen have acquired skill in the business. (2.) Much better 
aiiparatus for the capture of these fish is now in use. (3.) The fish are 
more abundant than formerly. 

5. Not perceptibly. 

6. First seen about May 20 in occasional schools. Main body arrives 
about June 20, which, jiassing eastward, is followed by others contin- 
ually for about thirty days longer. There is considerable difference in 
the size of fish caught. At times, mixed sizes are taken at the same set; 
usually, these arriving at different periods of time, dijBfer in size. 
Larger may come sooner or later. Nothing certain is known as regards 
this. 

7. Probably near the surface. Their arrival is known only by their 
" play," i. e., flipping, or striking the water with their tails. 

8. After rounding Cape Cod, some touch the coast in the vicinity of 
Gloucester, Mass., but the larger portion, by far, it appears, keep off 
shore, and near it anywhere from Cape Elizabeth to Monhegan. The main 
body of these fish continue to pass toward the east till about the 20th of 
July, when that impetus seems to be checked, and for thirty or forty 
days their movements are seemingly local. Then they begin their rrturn 
to the west, and continue to repass, until in October the last bodies are 
urgent in the westward course. 

9. Very regular. Never fail to come. 

10. Yes. They are farther off shore, but not, it is believed, from their 
feeding-ground. 

11. No relation discoverable. 

12. In this vicinity, from five to thirty miles from land. 

13. Depth not material. 

14. No. Temperature of air does. They will not " show" or come to 
the surface when cold north or east winds prevail. 

15. No. 

16. No. 

17. In September and October, as described in No. 8. 

18. By the same as that by which they arrive ; described in No. 8. 

19. About the Bahama Banks and Florida Keys. 

20. Animalculse. 

21. Where they pass the winter (No. 19) in January and February. 

22. The writer has reason to believe them to be indiscriminately 
mixed. 

23. Yes. 

24. Am unable to give the temperature of Bahama waters. 



384 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

28. Yes. About the sounds of Carolina and Chesapeake Bay. 

29. Never in Maine. It will appear in late southern fishing, Novem- 
ber and December. 

30. Am unable to say. Parent fish does not devour them. 

31. Worms occasionally found in the head. 

32. Immensely. 

33. Never. 

34. Seines. 

35. Length, 500 yards ; depth, 60 yards. 

36. Steamers, schooners, and sloops varying from 20 to 70 tons, new 
measurement. 

37. Ten usually make a crew. 

38. While they can see. From daylight till dark. 

39. No. 

40. Prevents their capture by " raising a sea." Cold winds cause 
them not to " show." 

41. In Booth Bay, 21 crews, 210 men. 

42. Sent at once to the works to which the catching crew belong. 
Each gang fishes for the factory which provides the apparatus for fish- 
ing. 

43. They number six: A. Suffolk Oil & Guano Works, J. G. Nicker- 
son. B. Atlantic Oil & Guano Works, Luther Maddocks. C. Works 
of Gallup & Holmes. D. Works of Gallup & Manchester. E. Works 
of Kennistou, Cobb & Co. F. White Wine Brook Company's Works, 
G. B. Kennistou and others. 

44. Depends wholly on the number of barrels of fish secured and their 
fatness, both of which vary each year. For 1873 the following is about 
the result, using letters as above to designate the figures : A. 120,000 
gallons. B. 112,000 gallons. C. 42,5.00 gallons. D. 62,500 gallons. 
E. 42,500 gallons. F. Not run. 

45. Fifty per cent, in addition to the amount usually made. 

46. Factories vary in cost from $10,000 to $60,000. 

47. In 1873, 75 cents per barrel. In previous years, from 50 cents to 
$1.25 per barrel. 

48. Barrel averages 2i gallons usually. 

49. Varies with the time of the season, whether it be in June or 
October. 

50. Three pints. May. 

51. Six and one-balf gallons in October. 

52. Yes, average ; though Southern fish late (December) are very fat. 

53. Began in Maine in 1865. Grew rapidly for four years. Not aug- 
mented any since 1870, except in method and means of taking the fish. 

54. Boston, New York, and export. 

55. Massachusetts and the Southern States. 

56. Sold largely for curriers' use, and to adulterate higher-priced oils. 

57. From 35 to 48 cents. Previous years, from 33 cents to $1.05. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 385 

58. Not sensibly. 

The inception and growth of this business in the a<ljoining town of 
Bristol is contemporaneous with Booth Bay. In 1873, the works of that 
town probably pressed 250,000 barrels of fish, yielding 025,000 gallons, 
of oil. There are about eight works. 



8. Statement ofJudson Tarr & Co., BocJcjjort, Mass.^ and Booth Bay, Me., 

January 23, 1874. 

1. Menhaden. 

2. Are most numerous of any fish on our coast. 

3. Have increased in the last ten years. 

4. Number of barrels caught in Maine during 1873 was about 400,000, 
of which we caught 60,000. 

5. The extensive capture does not lessen their abundance. Should 
say they have increased within five years, but not so abundant inshore. 

G. Menhaden are first heard from in March as far south as Cape 
Henry. They come on the coast of Maine about June 1, but the maiu 
body does not get along until June205 they are then constantly coming 
along until July. 

7. They come in schools and make a ripple on the surface of the 
water. 

8. They usually follow the shore in coming and going. 

9. They never fail. 

IG. Never see any small fish on the coast of Maine. 
17. They leave our coast about October 1. Cold weather drives them 
south. 

19. Think they go as far south as Florida. 

20. A sort of red seed, floating on the surface. 

21. They spawn South. 

30. The larger fish, such as the whale and shark, are their greatest 
enemy. The blue-fish destroy great quantities. 

34. They are caught with seines. 

35. One thousand to 1,500 feet long and 100 feet deep. They are 
called purse- seines, and cost $1,000 each. 

3G. Vessels and steamers of from 40 to 100 tons are used in catching 
them. 

41. Whole number of vessels, 33; 17 of which are steamers. There 
are about 500 fishermen. 

44. Number of gallons of oil produced by all, 1,000,000; tons of scrap, 
12,000. 

50. Yield less than one gallon to the barrel. 

51. They yield most oil in September. 

56. It is used principally for currying purposes. 

57. Average price of oil, 45 cents per gallon; scrap, $15 per ton. 
The phosphate that is made from the scrap is used mostly in the South- 

25 F 



386 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

ern States for raising cotton. Considerable is also used for raising 
tobacco. Fsed to a certain extent in every State in the Union. This 
business is prosecuted quite extensively in Narragansett Bay and Long 
■Island Sound, Ehode Island, Connecticut, and New Jersey. Com- 
mences one month earlier, and lasts one to two months later in season. 
The whole number of factories in that vicinity is about 50, but many of 
them are small. The amount of capital invested is $1,500,000. The 
number of barrels of fish caught is 793,100; amount of oil, 1,200,000 
gallons; amount of scrap, 24,000 tons. 

Size of our factory : Main building, 130 by 40 feet, 16 feet post, having 
two stories. The upper one is used for cooking and pressing fish; the 
lower story for oil-room and fish-scrap. The engine-house adjoining the 
factory is 20 by 30, 10 feet post, containing three horizontal boilers, 65 
horsepower each. In the upper part of factory there are eleven cooking- 
tanks made of wood, round, 12 feet in diameter and 4 feet deep, with 
steam-pipes in the bottom, having several small holes in them to let 
steam into these tanks. There are also three hydraulic presses, 150 
tons pressure each, and one engine of 10 horse-power. In connection 
with factory are two wharves, one 150 by 50, and one 40 by 80. On the 
largest wharf is a tank set up on x)osts 10 feet high. This tank has a 
capacity of 4,000 barrels, which we sometimes have full at night after 
discharging all of our steamers with their day's catch. We have a 12- 
horse engine on the wharf used for hoisting fish out of steamers; have 
three drums connected with engine so as to run all at one time or either 
one we wish. We can unload one thousand barrels an hour when in full 
blast. The fish are discharged same as coal is unloaded, and are dumped 
into tanks on the wharf. In connection with the factory is another 
building for the main scrap-house, 60 by 100, 15 feet post ; also black- 
smith-shop, cooper-shop, carpenter-shop, boarding-house, stable, &c., all 
on the premises and used in connection with the business. These cost 
from $75,000 to $80,000, and the steamers and fishing-gear, such as seines, 
small-boats, &c., not less than $60,000 more. There are but two pogy 
factories in the United States of this capacity, and are both in the town 
of Bristol, respectively owned by Joseph Church & Co., Tiverton, E. I., 
and L. Brightman Sous, Round Pond, Me., or Fall Kiver, Mass. Next 
largest are those of L. Maddocks and J. G. Nickerson, in Booth Bay, 
adjoining town, about half as extensive as the above. The others are 
smaller. Perhaps they may average one-fourth capacity of first three. 

General j)rocess of manufacturing. — First, the fish are landed on the 
wharf or in tanks ; then they are conveyed to the upper story of the 
factory in cars holding about 20 barrels, on wooden rails set upon 
wooden horses ; then they are emptied into the cooking-tanks. Put in 
first 6 inches of salt water, then 50 to 75 barrels of fish, in each tank, 
and open steam from main pipe and boil them one hour. In that way 
two-thirds of the oil comes out of the fish. We then draw this oil and 
water off below into drawing-off tanks for this purpose, and run it 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 387 

tbroup,li from one to another until it is run tlirougli several, keeping it 
bot all the while. After doing this the oil comes to the surface and the 
Avater separates and goes to the bottom. Then the oil is run off into a 
tank holding 4,000 or 5,000 gallons, called a settling-tank. After 
remaining there a few hours it is pumped up and run off into bleaching 
or drawing-off tanks, of which we have five, holding 4,000 gallons each. 
There it remains one to two weeks. Then it is put into kerosene-oil 
barrels and shipped to New Bedford, New York, and Boston, and sold 
to dealers in fish oil. In regard to pressing : After the fish are cooked 
or steamed and drained, then they are put into round curbs holding 10 
barrels each, made of iron one-half an inch thick, iierforated with holes 
one-eighth of an inch in diameter. These curbs are then put under a 
steam hydraulic press of 150 tons pressure, when the water and oil all 
come out together and are separated as before. Our capacity is 2,000 
barrels per day, but we do not always get that amount ; sometimes more 
and sometimes less. Oftentimes we do not have any fish for a week. 
We average about four fish days in a week. They are employed in 
Maine about sixteen weeks. First oil extracted from menhaden is said 
to have been done by a woman in Frenchman's Bay, near Mount Desert, 
Me. It was manufactured in the house on the cook-stove or fire-place, 
tried out in a common wash-boiler. This oil was put up in bottles and 
forwarded to E. B. Phillips, of Boston, and he gave the manufacturer 
encouragement and furnished nets and try-kettles, set up outdoors in 
brick, holding, say, 50 gallons. The fish were boiled and the oil skimmed 
off' the top, and the balance was thrown away. In this way they could 
not get over two-thirds of the oil, and it was thought best to press the 
refuse, but no one knew how to do it. The first process of pressing was 
in tubs and barrels by making holes in them and putting rocks on top. 
The scrap was thrown away. This was twenty-five to thirty years ago. 
I do not think the porgie business will be increased any at present, as 
there could be an overproduction of oil. The fish are not likely to di- 
minish. We employ at the factory about thirty-five men. 



9. Sitatement of Mrs. B. EumjjJirey, Tieeper of Monhegan Island Lights Mon- 
hegan Island, Me., February 4, 1874. 

1. Pogy. 

2. They are more numerous than other kinds of fish. 

3. Diminished. 

5. It does. 

6. The first of June. The first are the smallest. 

7. The fish swim high and make a ripple on the water. 

8. They follow the shore along from the southwest to the northeast. 

9. The appearance of the fish on the coast is regular. 

10. It does. 

11. The fish play with the tide. 



388 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONEK OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

12. Harbors and bays. 

13. They swim near the surface. 

14. It does. 

16. They are seen at half size. 

17. They leave the coast in October and Kovember. 

18. They leave the coast by the same route that they came. 

19. They winter at the South. 

20. They eat the grasses and seeds on the water. 

21. The fish spawn at the South. 

27. They spawn south of Cape Hatteras. 

28. During the winter months. 

31. There is nothing attached to the moutli of the pogy. 
34 and 35. Seines measuring 200 fathoms in length. 

36, Steamers and sail-vessels. 

37, Requires ten men to manage one vessel and seine. 

38, From sunrise to sunset. 

40. The wind does afiect them. 

41. There were no less than 111 vessels, of which 17 were steamers. 

42. They are made into oil and guano at different places. 

43. The nearest oil-factories are situated in Bristol, 15 miles from this 
place. 

47. Price paid per barrel for fish is 75 cents. 

48. Sixty-five fish will produce one gallon of oil. 

52. The northern (Maine) fish produce more oil than southern fish 
(Long Island). 
54. New York and Boston. 
56. It is used principally for paint. 
58. It does tend to diminish the fish. 



10. Statement of J. WasJihurne, jr., Portland, Me., February, 1874. 

1. Pogy. 

2. Is of greater abundance than any other, except the " mackerel," 
and possibly the " herring " fish. 

3. lias increased. 

4. 440,000 barrels taken by all establishments in this State in 1873 ; 
in 1874, 632,261 barrels. 

5. The extensive cai:)ture here does not appear to afi"ect the abun- 
dance. 

6. The first come about June 15; there are two schools; the first, 
which are small, usuiilly come about ten days before the second school. 

7. The first swim high ; their arrival is first known by capture ; they 
make a ripple and attract birds. 

8. Come from the south, move north, and again to the south. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 389 

9. The appearance is quite regular, and tliey do not come in greater 
abundance one year more than another. 

10. The use of nets, seines, &g., does not appear to scare them from 
their usual feeding grounds. 

11. Does not appear to affect their movements. 

12. On the coast of Maine, between Cape Elizabeth and Matinicus 
Islands. 

13. Twenty ftithoms. 

15. Do not come on to breeding-grounds before maturity. Two-year- 
old lish are the oldest. 

16. Never seen. 

17. About October 1, in a body. 

18. Southerly. 

19. South of Cape Hatteras. 

20. A seed. 

21. During the winter in southern waters. 

26. Spawn are never seen in these waters. 

27. Eggs are never seen in this vicinity. 

28. None are ever seen in these waters. 

29. No. 

30. Whales, sharks, blue-fish, seals, &C.5 don't know that the parent 
fish destroy their young. 

31. No. 

32. Greatly. 

33. Never hereabouts. 

34. Pass seines. 

35. Two hundred to 275 fathoms long. 

36. Both steam and sailing vessels, from 40 to 150 tons chiefly j some 
small boats. 

37. About ten men for the usual class employed. 

38. Ten hours. 
39: No. 

40. The catch is better with a southerly wind. 

41. One hundred and ten vessels, carrying an aggregate of five hun- 
dred men»- 

42. The fish, as soon as caught, are sent to the oil factories on shore. 

43. There are thirteen oil factories on this coast owned by various 
individuals. 

44. The quantity produced in 1873 was 1,000,000 gallons. 

45. Thirteen factories, employing 446 men, caught 440,000 barrels of 
fish, yielding 1,000,000 gallons of oil, 13,000 tons of guano, and 2,*37 
barrels of bait, valued at $352,550. 

4G and 47. About one dollar per barrel. During the war, prices were 
much higher. 

52. Yes ; one-third more. 
54. Boston and New York. 



390 EEPOET OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

55. Boston. 

56. Used for painting and for currying leather. 

57. Forty and fifty cents per gallon in 1873. 

58. Does not appear to. 



11. Statement of Chandler Martin, Tceeper of Whales-Bacic Light, Whales 
Back, N. H. — February 23, 1874, and January 9, 1875. 

1. Pogy. 

2. Most numerous, excepting herring. 

3. More abundant in 1874 than for ten years previous. 

5. Does not on this coast. 

6. From the first of May until the middle of July. The first are gen- 
erally the smallest. 

7. High; they make a ripple and attract birds. 

8. Along the shore from the coast of Massachusetts to the coast of 
Maine. 

9. Eegular, but more numerous some seasons than others.- 

10. Nets and seines keep them out of the harbors. 

11. Go with the tide. 

12. Bays and harbors with strong tides. 

13. Shallow. From 4 to 10 fathoms. 

14. It does. 

15. They are full grown when they visit this coast. 
IG. They are not. 

17. They leave in a body from the first to the middle of October. 

18. As they came, along the shore. 
29. No. 

34. Gill-nets and seines. 

35. Gill or float nets are six yards deep and forty yards long. Seines 
are of different lengths. 



12. Statement of Thomas Bay, keeper of Seguim Light, Parkerh Head, Me. 

1. Pogy. 

3. lu my opinion they are diminishing. 

C. The first school gets on the coast of Maine about the middle of 
May ; the second about the middle of June. 

8. These first go and come the same way as the mackerel. 

10. Yes, seines tend to drive them from off the coast. There is a fine 
of $50 for throwing a seine within three miles of the shore; but this is 
willingly paid when they can take 1,000 barrels offish in a few hours. 

34. Gill-nets and seines and in weirs. 

35. Seines are 1,500 feet long and 80 feet deep. 

36. There are at present about 75 small steamers besides many sail- 
ing-vessels. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 391 

37. Each steamer and sailing-vessel will average eight men each. 

42. Boiled for oil ; the churn is sold for manure. 

47. The pogy is worth, on an average, $1.25 per barrel. 

57. Oil is worth about 50 cents per gallon. 



13. Statement of William S. iSarteU, Pemaquid Light- Station, Bristol, 

Me. — February 1, 1874. 

1. Menhaden or pogy. 
3. Diminished. 
5. Yes. 
C. May 20. 

7. They swim near the top. 

8. From the South. 

10. It does, for they were not seen from this station last summer. 

17. September. It is done in a body. 

18. They go South. 

20. It is a small red seed that floats in the water. 

21. South of this place. 

34. Seines. 

35. Twelve hundred feet long by 360 feet deep. 

36. Steamers and schooners. 

37. Ten men. 

38. All day. 

40. It does. 

41. Sixteeen steamers and 30 schooners and sloops. 

42. Fried out for the oil. 

43. Seven factbries. In 1873, J. Tar, Bingham & Co., L. Nickols & 
Co., Union Factory, and three others. 

44. In 1873, J. Tarr used 85,000 barrels fish, Bingham & Co. 1,000,000 
barrels, L. Nichols & Co. 50,000 barrels. Union Factory 25,000 barrels, 
and three others 25,000 barrels each. 

47. Sixty cents (1874). 

48. From three gallons to one barrel. 
52. Yes, in the summer. 

54. New York and Boston. 

55. All over the country. 

57. Forty-five cents (1874). 

58. Yes. 

14. Statement of Alclen H. Jordan, keeper of BaJcer^s Island Light, Cran- 

berry Isles, Me., December 29, 1873, and February 9, 1874. 

1. Pogy. 

2. About 100 per cent. more. 

3. Diminished. 



392 EEPOET OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

4. There was none of any account ; in 1861 there was quite a catch 
in this vicinity, mostly in small boats ; since that time the fish have di- 
minished to a great extent. 

5. It does. 

G. About the 15th of June, and then, about six or eight days after, 
the main body arrives, the first fish that come being as large as any. 
They come in schools, one after the other. 

7. Swim high in moderate and calm weather ; they make a ripple and 
attract birds. 

8. From the west, following the coast. 

9. Regular. 

10. Yes. 

11. They play in on the flood and out on the ebb. 

12. Thej^ play in the tide about one-half mile from the shore. 

13. About IS fathoms. From 2 to 4 fathoms. 

14. It does not. 

15. The ground in this vicinity appears to be their feeding-ground. 
They are all of one size. 

16. Not any. 

17. About the 20th of September. 

18. West. 
10. South. 
20. Shrimp. 
29. No. 

31. Never saw any. 

32. To a great extent. 

33. Not any. 

34. Nets are knit of twine ; 3.J-iuch mesh. 

35. Length, 25 fathoms; depth, 2 fathoms. 

36. Steamers and schooners, from 20 to 30 tons. 

37. Four to twenty. 

38. Two-thirds. 

39. Yes ; on the flood. 

40. Yes ; it makes them swim deep. 

41. None. 

42. On the spot, or sent to Brooklin, Me. 

43. None. 

47. Those that catch the fish keep them for bait, or for their oil, in 
this vicinity. 

48. About 55. 

49. About all the scrap in this vicinity is put on the ground for dress- 
ing. 

50. About 3 gallons when the fish are first caught. 

51. About 5J gallons in September. 

52. Yes. I think the first fish were caught in 1858. 
54. Boston, Mass. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN ^lENHADEN. 393 

55. Boston, Mass. 

56. It has been used foi? iiaiut for the past thirteen years. 

57. Price per gallon, 45 cents. In 1861 it averaged $1.38 per gallon. 

58. It does to a great extent. 



15. Statement of Washington Olin, lieeper of Pond Island Light, near 
Boothbay, Me., February 18, 1874. 

1. Menhaden or pogy. 

2. More abundant than any other fish. 

3. Diminished. 

5. It does. 

6. In May ; the main body arrives in July. The July fish are the 
largest. 

7. They swim at the top of the water and make ripples. 

8. They come from the south. 
10. Tends to scare them. 

12. Very near the sea-shore.' 

13. Generally at the surface. 

16. They are not. 

17. They leave the coast in the fall. 

18. Go south. 

31. Worms are sometimes found in them. 

33. No disease of any kind. 

34. Purse-nets or seines. 

35. Length from 200 to 225 fathoms; depth from 15 to 25 fathoms. 
30. Steamers, from 75 to 100 tons. 

37. From 10 to 15 men. 

38. All day, if the weather is fine. 

42. Steamed and pressed for oil at Boothbay. 

43. Not any nearer than Boothbay ; owned by Luther Maddocks. 

47. From 40 cents to 81.25 per barrel. 

48. Four hundred in May ; 100 in August or September. 

50. One g,alIon in May. 

51. Four gallons in August or September. 

54. Boston and New York. 

55. The Southern States. 

56. For painting. 

57. About 50 cents. 

58. Very much, and drives them from the land. 



16. Statement of an unhioum correspondent, Gloucester, Mass., March 28, 

1874. 

1. Menhaden, hardhead, or pogy. 

2. About the largest (if not the largest) school of fish that visits our 
coast. 



394 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

3. Have uot seen much of them for the past eight years, but should 
think that they had diminished a small per cent, during that time. 

4. There are no establishments here engaged in the manufacture of 
menhaden oil. 

5. Do not think it does. 

6. About the 15th of May, and are the most plentiful about the 1st of 
June. The first are generally the largest. Generally two, about one 
week apart. 

7. Sometimes at the surface, and oftentimes they pass along without 
any show. I should think, from an experience of twenty-five years, that 
they never go below 5 fathoms from the surface of the water. Their 
general habit when on or near the surface, is to slap — that is, to raise 
the tail and strike it down on the water. This produces a sound dif- 
ferent from any other kind of fish. They, as a general thing, make a 
small ripple on the water, and oftentimes they can be told by the color 
of the water which covers them. It presents a yellowish color, as a 
general thing. Do not attract birds. 

8. They come from the south, and, as a general thing, follow along 
the coast, sometimes near the land, but of late at the distance of from 
three to twenty miles from land, along the coast of Massachusetts to 
the coast of Maine. I never heard tell but once of their crossing the 
Bay of Fundy. 

9. Eegular and certain; they do not. 

10. I think it has a tendency to do so. 

11. As a rule, more apt to come to the surface in deep water ; in shal- 
low water they go in and out with the ebb and flow of the tide. 

13. If not disturbed they would stay near to the shore, but about 5 
fathoms when out of sight. 

14. It does. Cold easterly winds tend to keep them beneath the sur- 
face ; warm southwest winds and clear sky appear to put them in a 
playful mood. 

15. Could not say, but should not think they came until the second 
year ; should think not. 

IG. Never sa,v any but once in the month of August; about 3 inches 
in length. 

17. In the month of ITovember, by degrees ; that is, they pass along 
day by day until all are gone. 

18. They go southward. 

19. Could not say, but have heard of them in the month of February 
on the coast of Florida. 

20. Suction, or on the small particles to be found in the water. 

21. Never knew, but think where they spend the winter. 
23. Never knew it to be. 

25. Should think on the bottom. 

20. Do not know, but think they remain at the bottom. 

28. Not around this coast. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 395 

29. Not around these parts. 

30. Cod, iwllock, and various other kinds ; the parent fish does not. 

31. Kever saw any such. 

32. The bluefish is the only deadly enemy. 

33. About eighteen years ago they died in large quantities, and were 
piled along the coast of Maine for miles. 

34. Seines and gill-nets. 

35. Seines are from 150 to 240 fathoms long and from 10 to 30 fath- 
oms deep. The nets are about 20 fathoms long and 5 fathoms deep. 

36. Fore and aft vessels, from 30 to 80 tons. 

37. FroQi 5 to 12 to each vessel. 

38. Depends on the weather and the fish. 

39. Generally more taken on the flood than on the ebb tide. 

40. Easterly winds do. 

41. About 45 sail for 1873, and about 500 men. 

42. In Gloucester, the greatest fishing port of Massachusetts, they 
are used for bait; but some are carried in ice to George's Bank, and 
the remainder are slivered; that is, the sides are taken off and head 
and backbone thrown away, and salted for the mackerel and Grand 
Bank fishing. 

43. None. 

47. From $1 to $2.50 for fresh, and from $G to $9 for slivers, per 
barrel. 

48. Spring of the year about 2 quarts to 1 barrel ; when in good order, 
last of August, 3 gallons to 100 fish. 

50. See question 50. 

51. See question 50. 

52. Think they do, as a general thing. 

54. Boston, Salem, Dan vers, and other places. 

55. Sold from factories and carried to different places in Maine and 
Massachusetts. 

50. Sometin^es used for leather, but more often to mix with linseed- 
oil to cheat the consumer. 

57. About 40 cents per gallon. 

58. In pressing out the oil some gets overboard and makes a calm 
streak on the w^ater ; this the menhaden will not cross, so that I think 
this, if it does not diminish, at least drives them farther from shore. 



17. Statement of Capt. F. J. Babson, Collector of Customs, Gloucester, Mass. 

1. The name usually emplo^'ed by fishermen to designate these fish in 
the waters of Massachusetts and Maine are hardheads, pogies, menha- 
den. 

2. They are found in great abundance in this vicinity, and aj^parently 
exceed in quantity all other fish except mackerel and herring, between 
which the disparity is not noticeable. 



396 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

3. They have doubtless decreased within the last ten years. 

4. During the past year about G0,000 barrels of round fish were caught 
by vessels from this district, all of which were used for bait for mackerel 
and codlish. The side of the fish is cut longitudinally from the head 
downward, on either side of the bone, while the head and vertebrae are 
thrown away ; the pieces cut off, called slivers, are salted and packed in 
barrels for bait. Tiiree barrels of round fish will make one barrel of 
slivers. ISTearly all the pogies caught in this district are used in this 
manner for bait. There are about 800,000 barrels caught off the coast 
of Maine, all of which are used in making oil. The refuse, or chum, be- 
ing used for manure. 

5. Their numbers doubtless decrease from their extensive capture. 

6. The first appearance of these fish in Massachusetts Bay is about 
the loth of May, alternating in quantity, and culminating about the 15th 
of June. The first arrivals are the largest. For a few days they are 
seen, then disappear, then reappearing in about three days in large 
quantities. 

7. They swim near the surface, and are often seen with their heads 
out of water going in one direction. Their arrival is known by obser- 
vation, as they always show themselves, and in moderate or calm weather 
they can be seen for miles schooling, or breaking water as it is called. 

8. They come along the coast from the south, that is, taking Cape Cod 
as the southern boundary of our vessels' operations, and from thence 
follow the coast of Massachusetts and Maine as far north as the south- 
ern limit of the British possessions, but they are not taken on the Brit- 
ish coast. (TJnder the Treaty of Washington this extensive fishery is 
now thrown open to British fishermen, when formerly they were obliged 
to buy pogy bait from our fishermen.) 

9. They have not failed to make their appearance regularly for the 
past thirty years, and always in large quantities. 

10. Since they have been taken in large quantities for their oil 
they have gradually avoided the bays, creeks, harbors, and rivers, 
where they once resorted in immense numbers, and are now principally 
taken from one to ten miles from the shore. Some of the fishermen 
maintain that since the advent of the bluefish (the most destructive 
fish in our waters) some twenty years ago, the pogies have sought deeper 
water for their ov\n safety, while others maintain that the bluefish 
drive the pogies into shoal water; doubtless both statements are at times 
true. 

11. When in deep water, subject to but little action by the tide, they 
are not apparently affected, but when in close proximity to the shore 
they will go up rivers and creeks with the tide and come out with it. 
They naturally tend inshore mornings and go off evenings. 

12. Chesapeake Bay, Long Island Sound, and along the coast of New 
England, are their most favorite resorts. 

13. They are found in all depths of water, and usually swim low during 
easterly winds. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENF\UEN. 397 

14. In pleasant and warm weatber they frequent the surface when 
the water is warm. 

15. They do not breed upon the coast or waters of Massachusetts or 
Maine, and we have no evidence at what age they become mature. It 
is rare to see any but the full-size fish, or very nearly so. Usually the 
fish caught are of equal size, and apparently being of the same age. 

16. Young fish have been seen, but at rare intervals, in schools by 
themselves, in size about half grown. 

17. They leave our waters by degrees, beginning about the 1st of 
October, and by the 30th they are all gone. 

18. They follow the coast apparently in the S'ame manner as they 
come, to the south. 

19. They are found in the winter in the vicinity of Cape Henry and 
Cape Charles, but doubtless they are mostly in the Gulf-stream. They 
have also been seen in winter on the southwest edge of George's Bank. 

20. They feed while in northern waters upon a red bug, or animalcu- 
lie, that floats on the surface of the water. This they imbibe by suc- 
tion, for they have no teeth. 

21. The spawniug-ground of these fish, so far as the observation o£ 
the fishermen extends, is in Chesapeake Bay, Long Island Sound, and 
the waters adjoining. Iso indication of their spawning exists in our 
waters, and in a catch of many thousands there is seldom seen a single 
fish with spawn in them. 

22. There are no indications of the sexes observed while in our water. 
26, 28. The young of these fish are seen in the vicinity mentioned as 

their spawniug-ground. 

30. Sharks, blue-dogs, porpoises, but the most destructive is the blue- 
fish. Have never heard of the parent fish devouring the young. Whales 
have been seen in active pursuit of them. 

31. No animals are found attached to them while north. 

32. There has been no ratio determined. 

33. There has never been any sickness or epidemic while in Northern 
waters. 

34. Seines and gill nets are used in their capture. These fish never 
take the hook nor pay any attention to bait thrown as for mackerel. 

35. The average seines used are 200 fathoms long, 18 fathoms deep, 
some longer, some shorter. The gill-nets are 25 fathoms long, 6 fathoms 
deep, 3f-inch mesh. 

36. The vessels employed in this district are schooners and steamers. 
The schooners are wholly engaged in taking them for bait. The steamers 
are connected with oil-factories in Maine. Schooners are from 20 to 70 
tons ; steamers 65 tons. 

37. About 10 men are required to each vessel. 

38. The fish are taken at all times during the day. 

39. As most of the fish are taken off the shore, the tide has no effect. 

40. When it blows hard the seines cannot be set, as the fish do not 
snow themselves as in moderate weather. 



398 REPOET OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

41. Tbe number of vessels in this district is 40, employing 400 men. 
Capital, $200,000; value of bait taken, |80,000. 

42. Tbose that are used as bait are slivered and salted in barrels ; 
those taken for oil are taken ashore to the factories, where they are placed 
in immense tanks and subjected to the direct action of steam ; they are 
then put into hydraulic presses, operated by steam and water. 

43. There are no factories in this vicinity for making pogie-oil. Other 
fish -oils are extracted at two factories, owned by A. W. Dodd & Co., and 
George J. Tarr, both of which are at Gloucester. There are 14 pogie-oil 
factories in Maine ; most of them are in Bristol. 

44. The amount of oil manufactured each year at these factories is 
1,000,000 gallons ; an average of 71,000 gallons each. 

45. During the fishing-season, in case they have the fish, these factories 
could use 100,000 barrels of fish, or at the rate of 700 or 1,000 barrels 
per day. 

47. The companies owning the factories usually own their fishing 
vessels. 

48. Seventy -five fish, when fat, will produce a gallon of oil, that is, in 
August and September. When they first come on the coast it will take 
300 fish to a gallon. 

49. The scrap or pumice is the refuse after the oil is extracted from 
the fish. This is sold for manure, at $15 per ton. 

50. About a gallon per barrel is obtained when they first come, say 
in May. 

51. Four gallons to the barrel of fish in September is the average 
yield. 

52. They do. 

54. It is sold all over the country: at Boston, Danvers, New Bedford, 
and most of the large cities. 

55. Scrap is used mostly in the South as a fertilizer for cotton and 
tobacco, and farmers everywhere use some of it. 

50. It is mostly used in currying leather, some for paiutiug and for 
machinery. 

57. Average price, 44 cents per gallon. 

58. Eeports differ ; some think there are as many one year as another, 
but that they keep off shore more ; others think they diminish. 

I herewith propose to add a few facts and a detailed description of 
the business, that may be of some value and which are not covered by 
the questions. The pogie business in this vicinity has ever been con- 
ducted on a small scale, as the fish have been taken entirely for bait. 
There was no large amount of capital invested until they were taken for 
their oil and manure. Vessels are fitted from this port on the same 
basis as the other fisheries : The owners of the vessels finding tbe vessel, 
outfits, seine, and boats ; the crew going at the halves (as it is called), 
that is, having the proceeds of one-half of the entire catch for their 
services, tbe other half going to the vessel. A good vessel with boats 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 399 

and seine costs about $6,000; the seine alone is worth $1,000, and will 
last with fair usage two years. They are made from cotton twine, and 
are preserved by salt and tar. The seine is carried on a small deck ou 
the stern of the seine-boat; this boat is about 36 feet long and 8 feet 
wide, and is built similar to the old-style whale-boats; they are always 
towed astern of the schooner, and when a school is seen the boat is 
rowed outside of them and the seine is thrown over ; one end being 
taken by the wherry or dory in attendance, while each describes a circle 
around the school of lish until the seine is all overboard and the ends of 
the seine are joined. As the pogies do not sink as mackerel do, they 
are thus inclosed in a wall of netting 18 fathoms deep, and then, by 
means of a small rope rove through consecutive rings ou the lower edge 
of the seine, the bottom is drawn together like a purse, and the fish are 
thus confined in a basket-shai)ed net. The surplus folds of the net are 
then gathered up until the fish are left in a small space like drawing a 
basket gradually from the water. The vessel is then brought alongside 
the seine and small dip-nets are used to bail the fish from the seine to 
the deck of the vessel. Often such large quantities are taken in the 
seine that the vessel is filled and many of the fish are killed by the close 
confinement and weight of the others ; and when the seine is opened for 
their release they are mostly dead. This difficulty is obviated if there 
are other vessels near, who usually take the surplus fish, giving the 
value of one-half to the successful vessel. After the fish are taken, when 
they are to be used for bait, they are slivered into barrels and salted ; 
sometimes they are sold fresh ; and as the vessels bound to George's 
Bank use ice to preserve their fish, the bait is placed on ice and thus 
kept fresh. But by far the principal part is salted and used by mackerel- 
catchers ; this bait is ground into a fine consistency, and is thrown along 
the side of the mackerel-catcher to toll the mackerel to the surface and 
keep them alongside the vessel. There are about 60,000 barrels of 
pogies taken by the bait-catchers from this district, and these produce 
20,000 barrels ofslivers, worth to the producers $4 per barrel. It is ob- 
servable that these fish are much fatter while on the coast of Massachu- 
setts and Maine than when on the more southern coasts. 



18. Statement of Simeon Dodge, MarhleJiead, Mass. 

January 9, 1875. 

Sir : Your circular of December 20, with letter inclosed, is at hand. 
In reply thereto, I can see no reason at present to change the general 
conclusions in my previous communications, although, of course, the sta- 
tistical portion is undergoing a constant change. I herewith present such 
additional facts as come within my knowledge. 

1. They are known here as hardhead or menhaden. 

2 and 3. Greatly diminished. Less abundant than other fish. 



400 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

d. All that were taken were sold fresh for bait, and would probably 
not exceed 50 barrels. 
5. Probably. 
G. About the 9th of May ; the main body or smaller-sized ones about 

July. 

7. They swim deepest when they first arrive, although usually with 
their noses at the surface, so as to be plainly seen by birds, &c. 

8. When first seen they move along the coast from the south toward 
the north ; subsequently return toward the south across the bay. 

9. Their appearance is regular, but the number constantly decreasing; 
have never known them to fail for a season. 

10. Seining tends to destroy the shoals, and large numbers are killed 
that are not secured. And this fact icill cipply to all shoal as well as other 
Jish, which, together with trawls, are fast destroying all our fishing busi- 
ness. 

11. They move upward with the flow and back with the ebb tide. 

12. At the mouth of fresh-water streams. 

13. Shoal water, though they have been caught 4 fathoms below the 
surface. 

14. They are usually found deeper when the water is cold, when they 
first appear. 

15. The first shoal are, apparently, mother fish, as the shoals that 
follow are smaller and younger. 

10. The young fish are found in inlets and coves the latter part of 
August. 

17. They leave the coast the latter part of October in a body. 

18. Across the bay to the south. 

19. Unknown. 

20. A reddish substance resembling ground cayenne pepper. 

28. They are not. Very few are found in coves, &c. 

29. No. 

30. The parent fish do not destroy them. 

31. Worms are sometimes found in tlieir gills. 

32. They are destroyed to same extent by sharks and blue-fish. 

33. No. 

34. 3.^ inch mesh, formerly 4i inch, showing that the size of the fish 
has dimiuished. 

35. Seines 150 fathoms long by 12 fathoms in depth Ure usually the 
dimensions. 

3(). Small boats are used here generally, although larger craft from 
other ports fish within our waters. 

37. In larger vessels 10 to 13 hands. 

38. At any time during the day. 

39. No. 

40. No. 

41. None employed. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 401 

42. Bait for codfish, and tollings for mackerel, 

43, 44, 45, aud 46. None. 

47. $1 per barrel for fresh ; $G for salted. 

58. It certainly seems to, altbough there may be other causes unknown 
at present. There is one fact which cannot be denied, and that is that 
these fish, once so plenty, have become almost extinct in these waters. 



19. Statement of Ehen B. Phillqjs, Swampscott, Mass., January 21, 1874, 

1. Menhaden ; sometimes as pogies. 

2. It is the most abundant, except, perhaps, mackerel. 

3. It has neither diminished nor increased. 

4. There are no establishments in this vicinity. 

5. No. 

G. In April they appear on the coast of New Jersey ; in May they 
reach Ehode Island and Connecticut ; by the middle of May or 1st of 
June they come here, and early in June reach Maine, the body of them 
arriving on the coast of Maine early in July. They leave by the middle 
of September, or first of October, and go south, no one knows how far. 
The first are not larger than the others. Many schools come in at same 
time. They are coming for a month, and going for a month, in streams 
300 or 400 miles long. 

7. They swim high when they come. In the fall they swim deeper, C 
to 50 leet down. They make a ripple. They do attract birds, viz, fish- 
hawks — not gulls, nor any other bird. 

8. They come along shore, as stated in No. 6. 

9. Their appearance on the coast is regular and certain ; they never 
fail, except th;;t they do not come close to the shore, and up the rivers, 
as much as before ; they lie off. 

10. Yes. And they can be caught better off shore. We don't vant 
the seine to touch bottom. 

11. None. 

12. In sum:ner from Portland to Mt. Desert they frequent the mouths 
of rivers — not very shoal waters. They are also found in abundance on 
George's Bank. 

13. Answered above. 

14. No, except when the weather is frosty, when they leave. Some- 
times, when it is warm aud sunny, they come to the surface. 

15. We do not find immature fish with mature ones on the breeding- 
ground. In this they differ widely from mackerel, of which all sizes are 
found together. I think they get their growth in a year. 

IG. We never see small fish. 

17. The fish leave as above stated, aud leave by degrees, moving two 
or three miles per hour, and at twice that rate when the wind is north- 
east. 

26 F 



402 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

18. They stick to the coast, sometimes following the bend of Cape 
Cod. Barnstable Bay was full of them last fall on their way south. 

19. At the south somewhere ; it is not known where. 

20. They feed on a sort of slime. They come north very poor and 
return from Maine very fat. The fish has no teeth. It has a gizzard, 
and the contents only equal the size of a small shot. They do not eat 
fish nor any vegetable. 

21. They spawn here in August and September. 

22. Cannot answer. We always see them in great bodies — not in 
pairs, or in small numbers. I think their being in great bodies, is some 
protection against whales, sharks, &c. 

23. No, not whitened or colored. 

24. Warm water in August and September. 

25. At any depth, I think. 

26. 1 suppose the spawn sinks, as all spawn tends to sink. 

28. No. 

29. Yes, often. 

30. Almost all fish eat spawn and young fish. The parents menhaden 
do not. They feed as above stated. Their spawning further out at sea 
than formerly, must save the spawn. It used to be cast on shore more 
than it now is, when we had a high wind. 

31. No. 

32. Extensively from sharks, horse-mackerel, blue-fish, fin-back and 
humi^-back whales, which always appear in our waters when the men- 
haden come. The codfish eats them night and day. 

33. No. 

34. Seines. 

35. Two hundred fathoms long, and 10 deep 
30. Sail and steam vessels. 

37. Eight or 9 men in sailing-vessels— it needs that number to handle 
a seine ; more in steamers. 

38. From morning to night. 

39. No. 

40. I do not know that wind affects the fish, but in a high wind it is 
impossible to seine. You cannot purse up a seine in a heavy sea. 

41. None in this immediate vicinity. 

42. The fish are sent to the fiictories to be cooked by steam and 
pressed. 

43. Joseph Church, Bristol, Me., made, in 1874, 400,000 gallons oil and 
4,000 tons of guano ; Judson Tarr & Co., Pemaquid, 235,000 gallons oil 
and 2,500 tons of guano ; B. F. Brightman, Bristol, 280,000 gallons oil and 
2,800 tons of guano; Eound Pond, Bristol, G0,000 gallons oil and 1,000 
tons of guano; Muscongus Oil Works, Bristol, 00,000 gallons oil and 1,000 
tons of guano ; Wells & Co., Bristol, 80,000 gallons oil and 1,200 tons of 
guano; Union, Bristol, G0,000 gallons oil and 1,000 tons of guano; J. 
G. Nickerson, Booth Bay, 100,000 gallons oil and 2,000 tons of guano; 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 403 

Gallup & Holmes, Booth Bay, G0,CO0 gallons oil and 1,000 tons of 
guano ; Gallup & Morgan, Booth Bay, 60,000 gallons oil and 1,000 tons 
of guano ; Luther Haddocks, Booth Bay, 200,000 gallons oil and 3,500 
tons of guano. There are also a number of small catchers along the 
coast of Maine who make oil in amounts ranging from 50 to 75 gallons. 

46. Steam for cooking and steam for pressing cost all complete with 
seine, boats, and fixtures from thirty to two hundred thousand dollars. 

47. In 1873, 60 cents. In former years not so much except at some 
times during the war. 

48. One barrel of good fish makes 3 or 4 gallons oil. 

50. One or 2 quarts when they first come. Thej' should not be caught 
until they are fat. 

51. Five gallons. It is greatest toward the close of the season. 

52. Yes ; a great deal more. 

53. In about 1850 ; I was then in the fish-oil business. An elderly 
lady by the name of Bartlett, from Bluehill, came to my store with a 
sample of oil which she had skimmed from a kettle in boiling menha- 
den for her hens. She told me the fish were abundant all summer near 
the shore. I told her I would give her $11 per barrel for all she would 
produce. The husband and sons made 13 barrels the first year. The 
fish then were caught in gill-nets. The following year they caught 100 
barrels. From that time and from that circumstance has grown a busi- 
ness as extensive as I have represented. 

54. Boston and New York. The whole country buys it for currying. 
It is exported to London and Liverpool, and thence to all parts of the 
world for currying, for soap, and for smearing sheep. 

55. South, for cotton and tobacco lands. 

56. Currying. It is not used for lubricating. 

57. Thirty-eight to 45 cents in 1873, 50 cents in 1872; $1.40 was the 
highest, a war price. 

58. No. 



20. Statement of Thomas Loring, collector, Plymouth, 3Iass., January 24, 
1874, and March 20, 1875. 

1. Pogy. 

2. Average. 

3. Diminished. 

4. Very few. 

5. It does not. 

6. About the 1st of June. 

7. High. 

9. Never fail. 
10. I think it does. 

16. Yes; in September, about 4 inches long. 

17. In November. I think by degrees. 
19. We think south. 



404 EEPOET OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

23. The water is whiteued. 

34. Gill-uets. 

35. Forty fathoms long, 4 fathoms deep. 

'SG. No vessels wholly employed in the business ; only a few caught 
for bait. 

40. We think not. 

41. We do not have any vessels expressly for this business. 

42. For bait only. 



21. Statement of William Aticood, ligJit-liouse liceper, Plymouth, Blass., 

February 23, 1874. 
1. Menhaden or pogy. 

6. Formerly about the 1st of May. The first are the largest. 

7. They swim high and make a riftple on the surface of the water, 
but do not attract the birds to any considerable extent. 

8. From the south. They work into the sand in bays and coves. 

10. Yes. 

11. They come mostly on the flood tide. 

14. Yes; they prefer an even temperature. 

15. They usually keep separate. 

IC. Yes ; and are from one to one and a half inches long. 

17. September, in a body. 

18. Southeastern. 

19. They spend the winter off Virginia, the CaiJes of Delaware, and 
in deep waters in the Gulf. 

20. Suction. 

31. No. 

32. Very much. 

33. Not on this coast. 

34. Gill-nets and seines. 

35. The gill-nets are from 15 to 20 fathoms long, and from 4 to 5 deep. 
Seines vary ; are much longer than nets. 

36. Propellers, steamers, and schooners, varying from 50 to 100 tons. 
Beside these, many small boats are employed on the eastern coasts of 
Maine. 

There are no oil manufactories here. 

Within the last ten years, these fish have diminished to such a degree 
that they are almost extinct in this vicinity. It is supposed that the 
cause of their leaving here was on account of their being frightened by 
the seines being placed in deep water. We hear that they are taken 
quite abundantly on the north coast of this State and in Maine. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 405 

22. Statement of Heman S. Dill, Welljleet, Mass., January 9, 1875. 

1. Pogy or bard-head. 

2. They are sometimes very scarce. 

3. Diminished. 

4. lu 1873, I do not know. About six thousand barrels in 1874, in 
this bay ; there is no sale for them in the spring here. 

5. I think not. 

G. About the middle of May ; they are small in the spring and large 
and fat in the fall. 

7, They swim high ; are seen in shoals. 

8. They come from the south. 

0. Quite regularly, about the same time of the year. 
JO. I think seines are a damage : gill-nets do no harm. 

11. The ebb tide they show themselves the most. 

12. It seems to me that shoal water or eel-grass bottom, or close in 
shore, are their favorite localities. 

13. You see them in all depth of water. 

14. I think it does ; they will not stay in cold or warm water ; I think 
they will stay in cold water the longest. 

15. We find those of different ages together. 

IG. They are seen quite plentifully here in August and September, 
from three to five inches long. 

17. They leave by degrees, and are not all gone until September. 

18. They leave by passing to the east of Cape Cod. 

19. Somewhere in the South, or near the edge of the Gulf. 

20. Some small shrimps of a red color we find inside. 

21. They spawn here in May or June. 

22. They are generally all together, as far as I know. 

23. I never saw anything like it. 

24. Quite a low temperature. 

25. From three to five fathoms in this bay. 

26. They are, I tbink, attached to stones or grass. 

28. They are found here in considerable abundance sometimes; I have 
seen them in shoal water for two months. The blue-fish then drove 
them out, or they would have remained there for two months longer. 
They grow from two to three inches while in this shoal. I have noticed 
them grow from day to day. 

29. It does, sometimes. 

30. I think most kinds of fish devour them. I think crabs destroy a 
great many. 

31. I never saw anything of the kind. 

32. Blue-fish will drive them into creeks and bays, and finally drive 
them off the coast entirely. They used to stay here all summer in Barn- 
stable Bay ; now they stay but three or five weeks, in May and in the 
first part of June. 



406 EEPOET OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

33. I never saw anytliiug of the kiud. 

34. Seiues and gill-nets and weirs. 

35. The gill-nets are 40 yards long and C yards deep. 

36. There are no vessels employed anywhere here. 

37. The men stay on shore and arrange their nets and the weirs. 
There are plenty of them here -, one weir caught 4,000 barrels in one 
night this fall. 

38. In the first part of the day ; sometimes all day. 

39. At low water or slack tide. 

40. I do not think it does. 

41. There are no vessels employed here. 

42. Some sliver them for bait ; some try them out for the oil, and send 
it to Boston. 

43. There are a few small places here ; J. Sparrow, P. Smith, I. H. 
Horton, and some other places around the bay. 

44. Not over 20 barrels j they do not carry it on only in the fall. 
^5^ * * * 

4G. About one hundred dollars ; that is, for press, kettle, house, and 
fixtures. 

47. Fifty cents per barrel. The same price in other years. 

48. It takes one barrel to make three gallons of oil. 

49. About 5 barrels. 

50. Three gallons, I believe, is the least. 
52. Yes. 

54. Boston. 

55. Sometimes it is used here and sometimes it is sent to Boston. 

57. In 1873, 55 cents ; in 1874, 33 cents. 

58. If there was no blue-fish I could tell better ; there are not half as 
many now as there were. There used to be plenty all summer ; now 
there are only a few during that season. I have been in the fishing busi- 
ness for forty years. There are not so many of the sort offish referred to 
now as there used to be. I have seen, in this vicinity, the water alive with 
them ; the cause of their scarcity at the present time is the jjrevalence 
of bluefish. The pogies stop for a short time only. They pass here in 
the spring bound north ; in October they return again, and stay here 
about a mouth. They do spawn here in the spring. I have seen them 
here five inches long. I have seen barrels of them in the weirs; they 
would stay in there for two months ; the bluefish would keep them in. 
I think bluefish are their worst enemies. The weirs use up all kinds 
of fish ; one weir caught four thousand barrels of pogies and hardheads 
in one night this fall. To sum up the whole matter, there are not half 
so many pogies as there used to be. They do not stop here long enough 
for us to make a business of catching them. I think seining is a damage 
to all fishing. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 407 

23. Statement of David F. Loring, Highland Light-Station, North Truro, 

Mass., March 2, 1874. 

1. They are called pogies. 

2. They are full as plenty from tbe last of April to the middle of May 
as any fish that I know of; during- that time they are passing in by the 
cape into the bay, coming from the South. They follow the shore down 
to the coast of Maiue. Whether they go farther to the eastward than 
the coast of Maine, I do not know ; but presume they do certain parts of 
the year. 

3. Apparently not one-half as plentiful as they were ten years ago. 

4. There are very few taken at this part of the cape for their oil j 
about all that are taken are what the fishermen catch for bait for catch- 
ing codfish, dogfish, &c. ; probably all that are taken by the fishermen 
during the year at this place and Proviacetown does not exceed 2^000 
barrels. I believe there are a few establishments, for extracting the oil, 
farther u^) the cape at Eastham and Dennis ; the number of them, and 
the quantity of oil they get, I do not know. 

5. The opinion of people generally seems to be, that they will become 
extinct in a few years if they continue to be taken for the oil. 

G. From the last of April to the middle of May. 

7. They first make their appearance in large schools on the surface 
of the water. 

8. I do not know how far to the south they strike the coast when they 
are coming to the North in the sjiring. They come in by Block Island, 
and come through Vineyard Sound, or Martha's Vineyard (so called), 
as they catch thousands of barrels in the fish-weirs that are built along 
the north shore of the vineyard. After passing by the cape in the spring, 
they frequently make their appearance in Cape Cod Bay, through the 
summer, with the bluefish chasing them ; where they come from it is 
impossible to tell. Whether they come from the eastward, or whether 
they are new bodies come from the South, I do not know. I have seen 
hundreds of barrels of them lying along the shore in the western part 
of Provincetown Harbor that were driven ashore by the bluefish. 

9. I do not know as there is any great difference in the schools from 
year to year, but they are decreasing because so many of them are 
caught for their oil. I presume there has been years when they did not 
make their appearance, but not within my recollection. I think they 
are very regular in their habits. 

10. I do not think the use of set nets makes any change in their 
movements, as they are used for catching the fish in the night ; but I 
think the use of the seine has a tendency to frighten them. I know 
that seining does frighten mackerel, and do not see any reason why it 
should not frighten pogies. 

11. Very seldom see them schooling on the ebb-tide; but as soon as 
the tide turns flood they commence to school on top of the water. I 



408 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

have seen the surface of the water literally covered with schools on the 
flood-tide, while on the ebb there was hardly a fish to be seen. I have 
seen them under water on the ebbtide, two or three fathoms down, in 
schools; but they move very slowly until tbe tide turns flood; then 
they school up on the surface of the water, and are quicker in their 
movements. I have seen them in the fall of the year, when not school- 
ing; but whether schooling or not, they generally play on the surface of 
the water, except on the ebb-tide. 

12. Around the islands and harbors on the coast of Maine. 

13. During the summer season generally find them very near the 
shore, near the surface of the water or a few feet below. 

14. It does not. 

15. Never noticed young fish with the old ones ; very seldom see the 
young fish after the first year until nearly full grown. 

16. Generally see the young fish in October; they are then about three 
inches long. 

17. They commence to move south about the first of October; leave 
the coast by degrees. 

18. I do not think the main body follows the coast in the fall, after 
passing Cape Cod, as they do when they come north in the spring. I 
believe the main body, instead of going through Vineyard Soiind and 
following the coast, go out through South Channel and go wide off shore, 
but presume they strike in on the coast farther south. 

20. What the fishermen call cayenne, a sort of fine, red substance float- 
ing in the water. Mackerel feed on the same. 

21. I think, from observation, they spawn where there is plenty of eel- 
grass, in localities where they are not apt to be disturbed by bluefish. 
Their spawning season is about the last of June. 

22. I have seen them when they were spawning ; they get together in 
bunches, from twenty to five hundred in a bunch, more or less, in shoal 
water, over a body of eel grass, and then swim around in a circle, press- 
ing agaiust each other as they swim. I suppose they deposit their eggs 
on or among the eel-grass. 

23. It is not. 

24. Do not know the temperature of the water, but when they spawn 
the water is quite warm. 

25. Where I have seen them spawning it would not ebb quite dry at 
low water. 

26. Presume they become attached to the eel-grass. 

27. Do not know how soon they hatch after being deposited, but prob- 
ably not a great while, as in October the young fish are from three to 
four inches long. 

28. W^heu they make their appearance in October they are very plenty. 
I have seen the fishermen catch them with dip-nets, for bait. They 
act very much like the old fish, being in schools or bodies. I never hap- 
pened to notice them anywhere except in Provincetowu Harbor. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 409 

29. I never noticed it to be so. 

30. I cannot say positively whether the parent fish devour their young 
or not, but think not ; there are, however, many of their eggs destroyed 
by fish that live on or near the bottom of the sea, such as flounders, scul- 
pins, perch. Sharks and bluefish destroy many of the young fish. 

31. Have never seen anything of the kind. 

32. Probably the sharks and porpoises destroy many of them, but 
bluefish are their worst enemy ; they destroy an immense number of them 
every year. 

33. Never knew or heard of any disease among them. I have seen 
them in the mouth of the Merrimac River in immense quantities, school- 
ing ; they are probably destroyed in immense numbers along the coast 
every year by the fresh water coming down the river. 

34. Set nets and seines. 

35. The nets are from fifty to eighty yards in length, and from fifty 
to a hundred meshes in depth ; the meshes are from four to four and a 
half inches in length. 



2J. Statement of David F. Loring, Cape Cod Light- Station, North TriirOj 
Mass., February 23, 1875. 

1. Pogy. 

4. Do not know the number of barrels taken during the year 1873, 
probably not over a thousand in this vicinity ; but during the fall of the 
year 1874 there was some thirty thousand barrels taken by small steam- 
ers with seines. These steamers belong to a company in Fall Eiver, 
Mass. This company has a large establishment or oil-factory at Booth 
Bay, Me., where they carry on the business very extensively during the 
summer season. After the pogies leave the coast of Maine and 5- tart 
south the steam seiners follow them. After leaving their establishment 
in Maine in November, 1874, and while crossing Massachusetts Bay, 
the steamers took a fresh breeze and came into Provincetown Harbor; 
and in going out of the harbor to go around Cape Cod, after the storm, 
they fell in with pogies in the bay, and took 30,000 barrels in four or 
five weeks. I believe the fishermen in this vicinity have an idea of going 
into the business quite extensively the coming season; it will probably 
be the beginning of a large business. 

10. It is doubtless a fact that these fish are driven away from the 
shore by the use of seines, especially in localities where the seining" 
business is carried on extensively 5 as, for instance, the coast of Maine, 
where, a few years ago, the seiners could get all they wanted close in 
along the shore ; now they have to go from thirty to fiftj' miles off-shore 
to get the fish. I am informed by old fishermen, who have been en- 
gaged in different kinds of fishing on the coast of Maine for the last 
fifteen or twenty years, that while these fish do not go in along the shore 
as they used to, they are very plentiful off-shore, but not as plentiful as 
they were ten years ago ; and they agree with me that it is the seiners 



410 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

that scare tbem away from the shore, and that tliey are fast diminish- 
iug iu number. 

21. I have seeu them ■while spawning in the harbor at Provincetown. 
They get where there is plenty of eel -grass, in from one to three fath- 
oms of water. 

22. They get together in bunches or small schools, a barrel or two, 
more or less, in a school, and swim in a circle pressing against each 
other. 

23. It is not. 

50. When they first make their appearance on the coast in the spring 
of the year they are very i)oor. 1 think they will not average more 
than , two quarts of oil per barrel of fish as they are taken from the 
seine. 

ol. About four gallons oil to a barrel of fish in November. 

58. If it is a fact that these fish are scaretl away from the shore by 
the use of seines, and also tbat these fish do deposit, and if it is natural 
for tliem to deposit their spawn on seaweeds and rockweeds along the 
shore, and from my own observation I think they do, it then follows 
that they are driven away from their si)awuiug as well as their old 
feeding grounds, and, as in regard to salmon and other fish that have 
been driven away from their natural spawning-grounds, they naturally 
will diminish. 



25. Statement of Josiah Hardy, 2d, Chatham Mass., February 17, 1874, 

and January 9, 1875. 

1. Menhaden or pogy. 

2. They are more numerous than any other fish. 

3. As to their diminishing within the last ten years there have been 
various opinions ; but my opinion is, nor do any now deny it that 
they are less than they were in years previous to this period. These 
fish used to enter our bay and line the shores and fill up our inland 
bays and ponds in immense quantities even to their own suffocation. 
About the year 1832 they were so numerous on and about this coast, 
and filled our harbors and the mill and oyster ponds so full they suffo- 
cated, and thousands of barrels of them drifted on shore. So many 
were they, that the inhabitants of this town were summoned to bury 
them lest a pestilence might arise. The same thing occurred a few 
years later; then there was no use for them, but they were used for 
dressing on the land. Since that time, as well as then, any quantity 
could be had for this purpose. 

4. For the last five years about 3,000 barrels each year. 

5. Between 1835 and 1840 the mackerel fishermen began using fish 
for bait, and large quantities were seined for this purpose. Since that 
time they have diminished to such a degree that very few have entered 
our harbors and ponds during the last few years. The most of those 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 411 

which do enter remain through the season. These menhaden are only 
on their way to the eastern shores, coming from the west when they 
strike this bay. They come in large schools, and are followed by numer- 
ous sea-birds. 

G. They have been caught in our bay as early as the 15th of April, 
but they generally come about the 1st of May. 

7. It depends upon the wind. They are generally seen in schools, 
and they attract sea-fowl. 

8. They come from the westward through Vineyard Sound and around 
Nantucket Island. They come in shore at high water; at low water 
they keep in the channel, which is from three to seven fathoms deep. 
I do not think the depth of water affects them very much. They are as 
regular in their course and movements as a flock of sea-fowl. When 
one is frightened, they all start; if one turns, all turn ; if one goes down, 
all follow. They have one ijeculiarity for which we cannot account. 
Sometimes for hours not a fish can be seen, and then suddenly they rise 
to the surface and the water is full of schools, sometimes swimming in 
a circle and sometimes headed in the same direction. 

9. I never knew them to fail. 

10. Yes. 

11. At high water they enter the rivers and follow up into shoal 
water ; on the ebb, they go off into deep water. 

12. Rhode Island, Chatham Bay, and the eastern shore of Maine. 

13. They school in any depth, and generally near the surface, unless 
attacked by some enemy. 

14. Yes; during northerly or cold winds they swim deep, while dur- 
ing southerly or warm winds they come to the surface. 

15. They do evidently mix with fish partly grown. 

IG. They are in July and August. When some schools get into our 
inland ponds and stop through the summer, we see the young ones about 
two inches long and shorter. 

17. The fish pass here from south in the latter part of September and 
first of October. All move about the same time. 

18. They follow the shores of Cape Cod. 

19. On the southern coast. 

20. They apparently live by filtering the water through their gills. 

22. They go in largo schools, but are never known to i^air. 

23. No. 

29. The oldest pogy fishermen say they never saw any spawn in them, 
but have seen what they called young pogies. 

30. They are a prey to sharks, dogfish, squid, codfish, bluefish, hali- 
but, and porpoises. 

31. Nothing of the kind was ever seen on them here. 

32. The bluefish are their great enemy, and they leave when this 
enemy comes. 

33. I cannot find a man who ever saw a diseased menhaden. 



412 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

34. Weirs and gill-nets. 

35. Twenty-five feet deep and of different lengths, with pounds or 
traps at the ends. Gill-nets are 115 feet deep. Sweep-nets are 150 
fatboms long and 25 deep. 

3G. There are no vessels in the business. 

37. Ten men to a seine or weir. 

38. Four hours each day. 

39. More on the ebb than on the flood. 

40. It does. The warm southwest winds are the most favorable. 

41. There are none. 

42. They are sold to the Gloucester codfish fleet and to spring mack- 
erel fishermen for bait. 

43. There is no oil establishment here. 

47. About $1.50 in 1873. 

48. The season makes a difi'erence. In the spring they are very poor 
and in the summer and fall very fat. 

55. A guano factory on Vineyard Sound. 

5S. It does not diminish them perceptibly. We have in our bay (1875) 
thirteen fish-weirs witbin twelve miles, which are set from the 15th of 
April until the 1st of June. These weirs are set in from two to five 
fathoms of water. We catch all kinds of fish, for if the leader of a 
school tails into our traps the rest follow, and thus tons of fish of all 
kinds are taken. 



20. Statement of Alonzo Y. LotUrop^ Ilyannis, Mass., February 18, 1874, 

and January 1, 1875. 

1. rogy. 

2. Favorably. 

3. Greatly diminished. 

4. Kot many in the immediate vicinity ; large numbers east and west. 

5. It does, apparently, in this section. 
G. In May and September. 

7. They swim high and make a ripple ; attract sea-gulls and other 
birds. 

8. From the Gulf Stream. They follow up rivers and bays. Have 
caught them in " dip-net" two miles up Shoal River in two feet of water. 

9. liegular and certain. 

10. No. 

11. All fish more abundant in this section on " flood." 

12. From New York to Maine, near shore, rivers, bays, and bends. 

13. Shoal water. 

14. Leave the coast in cold weather. 

15. Yes. 

IG. Never noticed. Have seen resemblance in smaller fish. 

17. In September or October. Should say in a body. 

18. Southern. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 413 

19. lu warm water ; probably in the Gulf Stream. 
tlO. Friars, shrimp, and minnows. 

22. Think they mix indiscriminately. 

23. I never saw the water colored. 

26. I think they float in the water until hatched. 

28. Not abundant in this section. 

29. Yes. 

30. Sea-gulls and other birds ; besides sharks, dogfish and bluefish. 

31. Have noticed quantities of crabs in same seine with pogies. 

32. They suffer fearfully. 

33. Have noticed tbem lying dead on the shore. I suppose they were 
carried up by shoal water or by sea-weed. 

34. Purse-net with small mesh. 

35. Various. Some 1,000 yards long and 6 fathoms deep. 

36. Steamers, schooners, and sloops. 

37. Ten to thirty. 

38. Morning. 

39. Flood. 

41. None in immediate vicinity. 

42. Mostly to oil factories. 

43. None ; one at Wood's HolL 

47. From 30 to 50 cents per barrel. 

48. One barrel, about. 
50. One gallon. 

53. Until within a few years pogies were used by mackerel catchers 
for bait, ground in bait-mill on board of vessel, and fed out to this class 
of fish (mackerel) to raise them to surface of water. They are then 
caught by hook and line. Within a few j'ears oil factories have been 
established, taking in a large territory, and carried on on a large scale 
at the present time. 

54. Cities. 

56. Painting purposes. 

58. I should say they had not diminished. 

Menhaden, or pogies, as they are commonly called in the Eastern 
States, were found in unusually large quantities during the year 1874, 
apparently an increase in their numbers. One steamer alone carried 
into Linniken's Bay (near Booth Bay, Maine) nearly 25,000 barrels. 
Taking into consideration the large number of vessels of various kinds 
connected with the business, immense quantities of these fish must be 
used up yearly, but still they come. 



27. Statement of William S. Alleny Nantucket^ Mass., January, 1875. 

1. Menhaden. 

2. Comparison small. 

3. No observable change. 



414 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

4. About 12 barrels; by lobster men for bait; none previously taken. 
G. October; all arrive nearly at the same time, dividing into, say, four 
schools, all seen at once. 

7. Mostly high; make a ripple; attract birds. 

9. Since first noticing them their appearance has been nearly regular 
in time and numbers. 

10. Their capture is not pursued here. 

11. Seen mostly on the flood. 

13. Unknown ; both high and low. 

14. Yes. 

17. At the first change to coldness — in a body. 

20. Animal. 

23. Sleaked, or greased. 

26. Probably float. 

30. Bluefish. 

40. Yes. 

41. None. 

42. All use baiting purposes. 

43. None. 

56. A quantity is used in paints. 

58. Probably. 

61. January 3, 1875. 



28. Statement of B. G. Kcnney, Nantucket, Mass., January 21, 1874. 

I have the honor to acknowledge receipt of your communication of the 
20th ultimo, relative to " Statistics of the Menhaden Fisheries, «&c.," 
and herewith transmit such information as I have been able to obtain on 
the subject. 

1. Pogy. 

2. More numerous than any other kind of fish. 

3. They vary from year to year, but as a whole, for the past ten years 
remain about the same. 

5. It does not. 

6. They appear about the 1st of May, or if the season is early, a little 
sooner. Are most abundant in June and July; the last run are the larg- 
est and fattest. 

6. They gradually increase in abundance from the first. 

7. Swim on the surface, causing a ripple, and do not appear to attract 
birds as other fish do. 

8. When they appear in our vicinity it is from the direction of Sandy 
Hook and the Jersey shore. By our vicinity, I mean from the entrance 
to the Vineyard Sound, around Cape Cod. 

9. Their appearance in large numbers is not regular or certain. When 
they fail to appear for a season the next year is usually a good one j 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 415 

above tlie average. I tbink tbe prevalence of strong soutberly winds 
favorable to their return. 

10. It does not. 

11. The tide has no apparent effect upon them. 

12. Cannot name any definite locality. 

13. Have seen them in deep and in shoal water. They usually track 
tbe shore. 

14. They appear to prefer warm weather. A cold turn will drive 
them off. 

15. When taken in any quantity there appears to be a mixture of old 
and young. 

10. We frequently see them in the fall of the year, from 3 to 4 inches 
in length. 

17. They commence leaving the coast about tbe 1st of October, and 
disappear altogether in November. 

18. They return by the same route that they came. 

19. I am not certain but think they go to the edge of tbe Gulf Stream. 
21. Judging from tbe number of small fisb seen I should say they 

spawned around our shores in June and July. 

26. I think they sink to the bottom and become attached to stones, 
&c., like other spawn. 

29. Yes. 

31. Have sometimes seen lampr.ey eels attached to the outside. 

32. Sharks, sword-fish, porpoise, and bluefisb are very destructive to 
libera. 

33. I know of none. 

34. Purse-nets, gill-nets, generally ; sometimes by sweep nets and fish- 
wears. 

35. Purse-nets are from two hundred to three hundred fathoms in 
lengtb and from fifteen to thirty fathoms in depth. Gill-nets are about 
seventy-five fathoms in length and from two and a half to three fathoms 
in depth. 

36. In this vicinity sail-boats of about 5 tons' burden are used for 
setting the nets. 

37. For a purse-net about eight men are required ; for a gill-net one 
man with a dory ; for a fish-wear from seven to eight men. 

38. Tbe gill-nets are set nights ; the others through the day. 

39. No difference. 

40. I think not. 

42. About one-half are put on board our fishing- vessels to be used as 
bait in the cod and mackerel fisheries. The balance are sent to the 
factory at Woods Holl, Mass. 

43. The nearest factory is at Woods Holl, Mass. The owners are un- 
known to me. 

47. The price per barrel, for some years past, has been from fifty to 
seventy-five cents, as taken from the nets. 



416 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

52. They do. 

50. Used for tanning purposes. 

57. From forty to lifty cents per gallon. 

58. I cannot see that they diminish, under any circumstances. 



29. Statement of C. B. 3£arcJiant, collector of customs, Edgartown, Mass., 

January 13, 1875. 

1. This species is known in this locality by the name of menhaden. 

2. They are more abundant here than any other species of fish. 

3. Their numbers have not materially decreased or diminished during 
the last ten years. 

4. There were about 5,000 barrels taken here in 1873 ; in 1872, 10,000 
barrels. The following companies and persons are engaged in their 
capture : Jason Luca & Co., Richard Flanders & Co., Prince Stewart 
& Co., Edwin A. Luce, Thomas Norton, Edmund Cottle, and John 
Look. 

5. Their capture does not affect their abtmdance. 

G. They come on the coast the 1st of May ; other schools at intervals 
to the middle of June. The first caught are not the largest taken during 
the season. 

7. They swim near the surface, ripple the water, and attract birds. 

8. They enter these waters from the southwest. 

9. They frequently fail for one or more seasons, but return again in 
usual numbers. 

10. Pounds used for their capture appear to scare them. 

11. More fish are caught on the first of an ebb-tide than at other 
times. 

12. Their favorite locality in this vicinity is the Vineyard Sound. 

13. They are found in greatest numbers iu deep water near the shore, 
and on the surface of the water. 

14. They seek water of the highest temperature. 

15. All fish seen are of full growth, or nearly so. 
IG. Young fish are not often seen on this coast. 

17. They leave this vicinity about the middle of July, and return in 
small numbers in November. 

18. They are moving to the eastward. 

19. Unknown. 

20. Unknown. 

29. The spawn is often found to escape when captured. 

30. The bluefish destroy the spawn ; the parent fish is not known to 
devour them. 

31. Crabs, worms, &c., not observed attached to gills or mouths of 
these fish. 

32. The enemies of these fish do not perceptibly diminish their num- 
bers iu this locality. 



HISTOEY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 417 

33. !N"o fatal epidemic or disease has been observed among these fish. 

34. The method of their capture in this locality is in pounds. 

35. The dimensions of these pounds are about 1,200 feet long by 28 
feet wide. 

36. No vessels are employed in their capture. 

37. Forty men are engaged in their capture. 

38. These men are employed all the time during the season of fishing. 

39. The fish are taken principally on an ebb-tide. 

40. A southwest wind the most favorable for their catch. 

42. The fish are sold to vessels on the spot for bait. 

43. None. 

47. The price \)er barrel, in 1873 and previous years, averages 50 
cents. 
58. The catch of these fish does not appear to diminish their number. 



30. Statement of Jason Luce & Co., North Tlshury, Mass., January 6, 1875« 

1. Menhaden. 

2. They exceed others. 

3. Diminished. 

4. Five thousand. 

5. No. 

6. About the 1st of May, and the first are the largest. 

7. They swim high, make a ripple and attract birds. 

8. They come from the south and go west. 

9. They are sure to come. 

10. I think not. 

19. South. 

20. Suction. 

21. South, in the winter. 

30. Bluefish. No. 

31. I never saw anything of the kind. 

32. Bluefish make great havoc with them. 
34. Purse-nets. 

43. Pacific Guano Company. 

50. Least in June. 

51. Greatest in Noveuiber. 
56. Used for paint. 

58. No. 



31. Statement of Gallup, Morgan & Co., Groton, Conn., December 28, 1877: 

We have two steamers ; the Daisy and the John A. IMorgan ; ton- 
nage respectively, GQ, 87 ; 14 men each crew. Length of seine, about 
230 fathoms j depth, 25 fathoms. Number of barrels of fish taken, 
24,000. 

27 F 



418 KEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

32. Statement of Luce Brothers, East Li/me, December 4, 1877. 

We have one steamer, 76 tons burden; 9 sloops, 19 tons burden ; 4 
crews of 12 men each. We employ 40 men in our mill. Seine, 150 fath- 
oms long, 18 fathoms deep. We have taken 23,800,000 fish ; made 2,400 
barrels of oil, or 103,200 gallons. 



33. Statement of Daniel T. Church, Tiverton, B. I., March 23, 1874. 

1. Menhaden. ; 

2. There is no fish so plenty in Narragansett Bay as menhaden if we 
take several years as the standard ; but if we should take years as they 
come, and name each year separately, it would be different. For in- 
stance, during 1871, 1872, and 1873 scup appeared iu Narragansett Bay 
in immense quantities, and there is no doubt iu my mind but that there 
has been during the years named more of them than menhaden; but for 
a number of years preceding scup were scarce. 

3. Menhaden has, on an average, been plenty in Narragansett Bay for 
the last ten years. But for about ten years they were so scarce that 
some of the fisherU^en lelt the business. It is my opinion that when 
bluefish were plenty they destroyed such large quantities that there 
was a vast diminution, and it was seriously feared tbat they were to 
disappear; but since the bluefish have grown scarce menhaden have 
grown plenty, and 1871, 1872, and 1873 have been great years in the 
business for bluefish. Sharks and a hirge fish called horse-mackerel 
have been for some unknown reason scarce. The horse-mackerel 
spoken of does not frequent the waters of Narragansett Bay, but are 
found east of Cape Cod. 

4. Taking for a basis of estimate that there are eight menhaden fac- 
tories on Narragansett Bay that used 20,000 barrels each, it would make 
the number of barrels caught during year 1873 about 100,000, and I 
think the above estimate about right. 

5. We do not think that fishermen have any perceptible effect on men- 
haden, for it is a fact well known that a few years back they were scarce 
and it was generally conceded that the business was a failure, and some 
left the business because of the scarcity, and fish-gear, such as boats and 
seines, were sold for less than fifty cents on the dollar. But since then 
they have been jilenty, and the year 1873 has been a year of surprise to 
all, for the sea has been one blanket of menhaden from the Chesapeake 
to the Bay of Fundy. 

Menhaden strike the coast not far from the first of May, and there is 
not many days' difference between their arrival on the coast of Virginia 
or Maine. It is the opinion of those best informed that menhaden go 
to sea in winter and come in during the spring, I once had a brother in 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 419 

Virginia fisliitig, and at the same time I was at Seconnet fishing', and 
there was not three days' difference between their arrival in the Chesa- 
peake and the Narragansett Bays. The strongest proof of the correct- 
ness of the above theory is that there is a body of menhaden from one 
end of the coast to the other during the whole season "? 

7. It depends upon the weather. Fish make a ripple in the water. 
When it is warm they generally are near the surface and when it is cool 
they swim deep. 

8. It is my opinion that the fish go square out to sea from one end of 
the coast to the other, although their general course wheu first seen is 
toward the east. But if they all went east, how is it that so many are 
from one end of the coast to the other during the whole season. 

9. I have never known a season that they have failed to make their 
appearance. Their time of arrival varies as the season is warm or cold. 
I have been at Seconnet for seventeen years in succession, and every 
season they have come sooner or later, but in different quantities, for 
some seasons they are much more plentiful than they are others. 

10. The nets and seines do not scare them from the shore, for Xar- 
ragansett Bay has been the theater of their greatest capture for forty 
years or more, and they have been more plentiful than ever before for 
the last few years. I have seen a school of fish set out ten times in suc- 
cession in deep water and they would dive under the seine each time, 
but when they came to the surface they jvould not be ten feet from the 
seine, and they would lie still until we got ready to set ; wheu the seine 
was around them they would dive again. 

Fish will drive menhaden but man never does, except by use of pow- 
der ; they are sensitive to ajar, such as hitting the deck of a vessel with 
an ax ; even so slight a jar as the dropping of an oar or the careless 
slat of a rung on the gunwale has sent a school of fish off at full speed. 

11. They drift with the tide sometimes, and then again thej' swim 
against it. I have seen them in Dutch Island Passage, which is the 
western entrance to Narragansett Bay, drift in and out with the tides 
as regular as it ebbed and flowed. At the first of the flood they would 
come in and ^ork up as far as Eocky Point, and when it made ebb 
they would drift down near Narragansett Pier. 

12. I know of no favorite places. Wo hear of them on George's 
Banks, on Nantucket Shoals, off the coasts of North Carolina and 
Virginia. I have seen immense schools of them off the coast of South 
Carolina, and we all know tliej' are in all the rivers, bays, and creeks 
from South Carolina to the Bay of Fundy during the summer months. 

13. I think they care nothing about depth of water, for they are found 
in large quantities in deep and shoal waters. We catch large quan- 
tities on the coast of Maine in 50 fathoms, and even in ICO fiithoms; 
and at the same time there are large amounts of them in the rivers and 
bays in shoal water. 

11:. The temperature of the water does seem to affect them ; they do 



420 REPOET OF COMMISSIOXEE OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

not seem to lilie cold water. When it gets to be cold weather they 
leave, aud I reason from this tbat the air makes the water cold, and 
then they start. But they go onto the coast of Maine, and keep in the 
cool, deep water, when, if they liked, they could soon be in warm and 
shoal water. Why they do so is more than I know 5 but there seems to 
be difl'erence of habit, for some stop in the deep and cool water while 
others go into the shoal and warm water. 

15. I know nothing of their habits or laws of breeding, but I do know 
that we rarely see any of them with spawn in them, and when so found 
it generally is in the fall. But we have abundant evidence that they 
do spawn in this bay, from the fact that often we take in our nets bush- 
els of their spawn, aud also during some seasons there aie large quaji- 
tities of small fish about the size of sardines. They are always seen in 
the fall. We know nothing of one or two year old fish; they are either 
full grown with us or small. But there are different sizes of fish, as we 
find by our nets, for we use a mesh 3-| inches large, and sometimes we 
catch a school that "gill" in them, although not often. We take schools 
of fish that are large and overgrown, but we generally think it to be due 
to the difference in their feeding grounds. 

16. Now aud then there are plenty of small menhaden in ISTarragan- 
sett Bay, but it is the exception instead of the rule. I never saw any 
young menhaden east of Cape Cod, and I have asked a man that has 
fished constantly for menhaden east of Cape Cod for about ten years, 
aud he says he never saw any. I have seen plenty of them south of 
Narragansett Bay. 

17. It is hard to tell when the fish leave the coast, for we can fish with 
our purse-seines and have good fishing if it is good, warm weather, but 
if it comes on cold, the fish vanish, and to all appearances they are 
gone, for they do not show on the surface of the water ; but the giU- 
nets will take them long after, and they have been so taken as late as 
New Year's, when they are quite plenty; this shows that they are not 
gone at that time. Who knows but what they are close by all winter? 

19. We don't know where they spend their winters, although I have 
seen large quantities off the coast of South Carolina and North Caro- 
lina during the winter months. 

20. I don't know the nature of their food, except we think it is a small 
live something in the water, for they go about with their mouths open, 
as if sifting or straining the water for food. We call it brit. It must be 
something of great fattening properties, for they fat rapidly when they 
arrive on the beds of it that lie off the coast of Maine. 

21. I know they spawn on Narragansett Bay. 

28. They are abundant some seasons in this bay, but not always. I 
have seen millions of barrels, about the size of sardines ; and on 
the coast of North Carolina I have seen them for miles square so plen- 
tiful, about the size of sardines, that you could hardly move a boat 
through them, aud an oar among them would fall down about as fast as 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 421 

a stick would iu thick molasses. The havoc that gulls and fish make 
among them is fearful when they are together in such bodies. 

32. They are the bait or food of most every fish in the sea. Bluefish 
is the menhaden's great enemy, for when they attack in large quantities, 
and they used to come apparently about as plenty as the menhaden, 
they annihilated vast schools of them. Instances are known when they 
came into this bay iu such force that they drove them on shore in large 
quantities, and in a short time most there was in the bay would be de- 
stroyed. The record here is the same from one end of tlie coast to the 
other. Cape Cod Bay was cleaned out, as were the rivers and bays on 
the coast of Maine, and the destruction was so large iu some parts of 
Maine, that the people had to bury them from the fear of a pestilence. 
The same story is told at Long Island, and also on the Connecticut shore. 
The sharks destroy them. I once saw a body of them destroyed or 
scattered iu less than one hour. This was oif Seconuet. They were lying 
there apparently undisturbed, when suddenly a large school of sharks 
appeared among them, and tlie havoc was fearful. One gang of fisher- 
men had their seine in the water, and the sharks destroyed it; they 
were so ugly, that they would grab an oar in the water as quick as they 
would a fish. Porpoises are fond of them, and they cau do as much 
destructiou as any fisb, but they are not often seen around here. Cod- 
fish also catch them. 

33. I know of no epidemics, but I have heard often from old people 
how that years ago most all the menhaden in the sea and iu the bays 
died, and for a year or two they were scarce. 

34. Purse-nets at present are used mostly to capture them. 

35. About ISO fathoms long and 80 feet deep, although some are 250 
fathoms long and over 100 feet deep; while others, on the other hand, 
are not over 75 fathoms long and 50 feet deep. The length and depth 
of seines depends on the depth of water and the kind of fishing. 

36. Steamers and sailing-vessels. The largest steamers are 70 tons ; 
the smallest, 25 tons. The sail-vessels usually are about thirty tons, new 
measurement, and are used generally to live in. They have tenders to 
take the fish to market ; said tenders are of an average capacity of two 
hundred and fifty barrels, but latterly they are built larger, and there 
are some iu use that will carry six hundred barrels. Besides the tenders 
and vessels, there are the purse and mate boats, which carry the seine 
and men. These boats are about twenty-four feet long and six feet wide, 
and take o*- -half of the seine each ; they are then started from a central 
point aua row aronnd the fish. 

37. The sailing-vessel has a captain, who manages the vessel when the 
men are absent taking the fish. The purse-crew, which man the purse 
and mate boats, consists of six or eight men. The purse-boat con- 
tains the captain of the gang, and the mate-boat has the first mate. 
Each boat has a seine-setter and two men to row around the fish. In 
addition to the above men, most of the gangs have a fish-driver in a 



422 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

small boat, who keeps close to the school and guides the gang in setting 
for them. The fish-driver makes the seventh man. Some gangs have 
a man they call a striker. Generally, he is an apprentice, who goes for 
small wages to learn the business. He makes the eighth man. To 
recapitulate: A purse-gaug, for either steamer or sail-vessel, consists of 
from six to eight men, and the diifereat make-up of gangs arises in dif- 
ferent ideas of dilfereut gangs. Each boat has to have a seine-setter 
and two men to row. Steamers hav^e the same crew as vessels, 
except they have no tenders, thereby saving that expense. To illus- 
trate: Suppose a sail-vessel has a purse-gang of seven men and three 
men to ran tenders ; that makes ten men in all as sharesmeu. In a 
steamer the three extra men are dispensed with, and the steamer takes 
their part for the extra expense of coal and machinery, but the men's 
shares are the same on an equal amount of fish. The captains of the 
steamers manage them when the crew are absent catching the fish. 

38. All parts of the day are used in taking them, but the moderate 
part is preferred. 

39. The tide is watched in catching fish. Generally, slack water is 
the time when they can be taken the best, for at that time the seine is 
not scraped over the bottom, thereby escaping the chances of catching 
against obstructions and tearing. Cases have happened where seines 
have been totally lost, and hardly a day goes by when one or more are, 
in fishing language, ripped up; and sometimes it takes a week's steady 
work to mend them. When the water is still, the seine hangs better in 
the water. It is just the same as hanging clothes out to dry on a windy 
day — the stronger the wind, the more they shake; so with seines; if 
they are put into the water with it in swift motion, they are capsized' 
or pulled out of shape; for when they are in the water and swing one 
hundred feet deep, they are in more than one kind of tide, for often the 
tide on the surface is not of the same velocity as it is deeper down. 
Cases have been known when the tide on the surface and the tide sev- 
eral fathoms down were opposite. I have often heard the fishermen 
say when they came in after a hard day's work, that " we have done noth- 
ing to-day; strong tide, and our seine capsized every time we placed it.' 

40. All the effect wo know is that the wind makes the water rough, 
and we cannot catch them ; but I do not think the wind has much effect 
on them as to their habits or to drive them away, for after the hardest 
storms we have ever known on our coast, the fish are found where they 
were when the storm came on. 

41. There were about ten gangs employed in Narragansett Bay for 
the whole season, and there were not far from one hundred men em- 
ployed in working them. I leave out of this estimate those gangs 
that fit here in the spring, and go east and fish the whole season. My 
business is mostly in Maine, and in my vicinity there were fifty-five 
gangs, which employed over six hundred men. More than one-half of 
these men came from Ehode Island. Most of them fish there a short 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 423 

time in the spring and fall, but the main part of their season is off the 
coast of Maine. 

42. Most of the fish caught by the above gangs are manufactured into 
oil and fish guano ; some are used for bait and some are used for manure 
just as they are taken from the water. But during the year 1873 there 
was but few of those caught in Narragausett Bay used for bait, because 
the Gloucester and Provincetown fishermen catch them with their own 
seines. 

43. Job T. Wilson, Leonard Brightman & Son, Wm. J. Brightman 
& Co., l^arragansett Oil and Guano Co., Thomas Dunovan, Thomas 
Durfee, Benjamin H. Gray, Otis Almy & Co., Chas. Cook & Co., Chas. 
O. Wilcox, Atlantic Oil and Guano Co. are the principal manufacturers 
on Narragausett Bay. The above list comprises all there are in the bay. 
Job T. Wilson owns three and Leonard Brightman owns two factories. 

44. If my estimate is correct under question four, 100,000 barrels, at 
the usual estimate of 3 tons to the one hundred barrels, would give the 
amount of guano 4,800 tons, and the oil, at the rate of J^ gallons of oil 
to the barrel, would give the product of oil for this bay at 240,000 gallons. 

45. I should think the average productive capacity of our oil factories 
to be about six hundred barrels each ; as I figure it some will manufac- 
ture one thousand barrels each day, and some will not manufacture more 
than two hundred barrels per day. The i)roductive capacity for each 
year is immense, but the amount of fish limits it to what the figures be- 
fore given will give. If all the factories had all the fish day by day that 
they wished, and could run from one end of the season to the other, their 
product would flood the world, but there are so many set-backs, such as 
bad weather, sharks, bluetish, that these fishermen get discouraged and 
go at other work. Take it all in all, there is no business on earth more 
uncertain than menhaden oil business. 

40. Hydraulic power is mostly used in pressing oil and water from 
fish. Steam is used mostly in preparing the fish for the press, and also 
the oil is prepared by steam for market by a process not generally known. 
A hydraulic press costs about $12. A factory, complete, ready for busi- 
ness, including buildings, tanks, boilers, oil run, &c., of a capacity to 
take and press 800 barrels in one day, costs not far from $14,000. 

47. Fish per barrel on Nariagansett Bay was, during the year 1873, 
about 40 cents; in 1803, during the summer, $1 per barrel; and once 
within ten years they were $2.50 per barrel. On the coast of Maine the 
price paid for fish during the year 1873 was about 72 cents ; the old 
price used to be $1, but the low price of oil and guano for the last few 
years has caused them to fall, and the year 1873 has been disastrous 
for most of the manufacturers on the coast of Maine. 

48. In 1871 fish averaged on the coast of Maine 3^ gallons per barrel ; 
in J.872 they averaged 2f per barrel ; in 1873 they averaged about 3 gal- 
lons ; the average is more uniform in Maine than on l^arragausett Bay 
or in Lonar Island Sound. 



424 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

49. There is no oil extracted from scrap ; tjie oil is extracted from tbe 
tish and tbe water is extracted at the same tioie, and what is left is scrap, 
or, as we call it, fish-guano. 

50. Fisli are generally poorest in the spring when they first appear 
next to the shore; after cold winters they are much poorer than after 
warm winters, which shows that during warm winters they feed more 
than they do in cold winters. 1 have seen them so poor in this bay in 
the summer season that out of one hundred barrels we could not get 
one i)int of oil; then, again, I have seen them so fat that the average 
would be over two and one-half gallons to the barrel. 

51. The fish are fattest generally in the fall, but I have known them 
after a warm winter to make 2J gallons to the barrel. But the first 
18,000 barrels caught by us in Maine during the year 1873 did not make 
over 14,000 gallons of oil. 

52. During the year 1873 the average to the barrel in Maine was one- 
half of a gallon more to the barrel than in Long Island Sound, and one 
gallon and one-half more than the average in Narragansett Bay. 

53. But a few years back there was no such thing known as men- 
haden oil and guano business; at present there are over $2,000,000 
invested, and in my opinion the business has but just begun, for ap- 
parently there are thousands of square miles of the fish, I think, and 
the business only wants to be known to be embraced. 

54. The manufacturers sell most of their oil in New Bedford, Boston, 
and New York, and they sometimes export it to Liverpool and Uavre. 

55. The phosphate manufacturers buy most of it, and what they do 
not buy is used by the farmers in the pure state. It is considered to be 
a first class fertilizer. 

56. It is used mostly on leather. 

57. Oil fluctuated from 65 cents to 32 cents during the year 1873 ; 
for the last five years I should think the average price had been 50 cents 
per gallon. 

58. I do not think that what man does can have any effect in diminish- 
ing them, for he has increased his i^owers of capture for the last few 
years, and the menhaden have apparently increased in greater propor- 
tion than ever before. I explain the increase in this way : The men- 
haden, from the vast destruction by bluefish, come out at the end of 
the campaign far below their correct proportions, and when the blue- 
fish ceased to trouble them they began to gain, and are gaining, and 
will continue to gain until they arrive at nature's high-water mark, and 
then they will stop. Buzzard's Bay, Long Island Sound, Narragansett 
Bay, and Cape Cod Bay used to be the home of the menhaden, but when 
the bluefish made those waters his home the menhaden were destroyed 
or driven away, probably most of them were destroyed, and now that 
the bluefish are about the same as gone, the menhaden begin to show 
themselves. This is especially true of Buzzard's and Cape Cod Bays. 
There have been large quantities of them in New Bedford Harbor for 
the last two years, and also around the Hen and Chickens. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 425 

34. Statement of E. T. Be BJois, Portsmouth, R. I., November 2G, 1S77. 

We have 3 steamers: E. T. De Blois, 81.30 tons, crew 13; Albert 
Brown, 78.05 tons, crew 13; Wm. A. Wells, 51.58 tons, crew 13; have 
caught 26,649 barrels of fish this season ; the length of seine 300 fath- 
oms or 1,800 feet; depth, 17 fathoms or 102 feet. 



35. Statement of H. D. Ball, Neic Shoreham, B. L, January 11, 1875. 

1. Menhaden. 

6. They make their first ^Ippearance about the 1st of May in large 
schools. 
23. They seem to color the water red. 
34. Gill-nets and pounds. 

41. Ko vessels are engaged in the business. 

42. For cod bait. 

43. None. 
58. No. 



36. Statement of Henry W. Clarlc, Iceeiier of Southeast Bight-Rouse, Block 
Island, R. I., February 0, 1875. 

1. Menhaden. 

2. Menhaden are the most abundant. 

3. There seem to be as many now as ever ; but some seasons they are 
more plentiful than at others. 

4. In 1873 some gangs of fishermen caught 25,000 barrels of them. 

5. No; but the first are more wild, and there are more fishermen than 
there were ten years ago. 

6. We first see them about tlie 1st of May. They come in abundance 
from the middle of May to the 1st of June. There is generally a May 
" run " and a June '' run." 

7. They swim close to the surface of the water. 

8. They generally strike in on the coast of Virginia, 
y. They come every season. 

10. I think nets and seines scare them, and they are not so easily 
caught as they were before these were used. 

11. They generally work in and out with the tide; but when they are 
making a passage tide does not affect tbem. 

12. The rivers seem to be their favorite resorts. 

13. In the summer we find them in shoal water, but in deeper water 
when cold weather approaches. 

14. When the water is cold they swim low. 

15. They leave their spawn in the rivers and shoal places. 

10. We see schools of young fish about the 1st of September. The 
fish then arc about 2 ini hes long. 



426 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

17. They commence to leave about the middle of October, and keep 
leaving in schools until the middle of November.^ 

18. They follow the coast from Maine to Cape Hatteras. 

20. Their i^rincipal food is a sort of jelly-tish, I think, for where w^e 
find the most of them we find the most fish. 

21. In the rivers, in June and July. 

23. The spawn is generally found in large clots and appears white. 

24. A warm temperature. 

25. The spawn is generally found about twenty or thirty feet below 
the surface. 

26. The eggs sink to the bottom, but do not seem to become attached 
to anything. 

28. We see the young fish in September. They are in schools. 

30. I never saw anything attached to the fish or in their mouths. 

31. Most all larger fish, such as bluefish, sharks, porpoises, &c., are 
enemies of the menhaden. 

32. They always seem healthy. 

35. The nets used are about 400 yards long and 90 feet deep. They 
are made of cotton twine. 

36. Sloop yachts are mostly employed ; they are from twelve to 
twenty-five tons burden. There are also eight or ten steamers now in 
use. 

37. From eight to ten. 

38. The morning and afternoon are the best times. 

39. Slack-water is the best time, because the tide does not tangle-the 
net. 

40. The best time to catch fish is while the wind is southeast. 

41. There are about one hundred vessels employed, averaging, 1 think, 
about nine men for a crew. 

42. 'The fish are boiled and the oil extracted; the refuse is used for 
manure. 
43. There are several factories in Providence River. 

45. It depends upon the quantity and fatness of the fish. 

46. The machinery costs from ten to fifty thousand dollars. 

47. From 40 to 75 cents a barrel. 

48. From one to four barrels. 

49. In the summer about sixty gallons. 

50. One quart. 

51. Five gallons. 

52. Yes. 

54. New York and Boston. 

55. All over the country. I think, however, in New England the most 
is used in the Connecticut Valley for tobacco raising. 

56. For tanning. 

57. From thirty-five to sixty cents. 

58. Yes. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 427 

37. statement of J. S. Crandall, Watch EiU, B. L, February 20, 1874, 

and January 1, 1875. 

1. Bony fish. 

2. More numerous than any other kind. 

3. Diminished. 

Captain Wilcox works two fish gangs. He took in 1873 9,800,000 ; 
in 1872, 9,450,000; in 1871, 4,500,000. Another factory has three fish 
gangs and took in 1873 2,500,000. 

5. It does. 

6. About the 15th of May, and seems to come on to all parts of the 
coast about one time ; the first are the smallest and poorest. 

7. Swim high and are seen by color and ripple. 

8. They come on to our coast from the southward by the east end of 
Long Island, and seem to work eastward and westward. 

9. There are some seasons not as numerous as others; in '73 they 
were plentiful ; in '74 not so plentiful ; in fact their catch was not more 
than two-thirds as ranch as in '73. 

10. It does ; for last season , in the latter parts of the summer and fall, 
fish were taken outside of Block Island. 

11. When the tide runs strong they usually go with the tide. 

12. All along the New England coast. 

13. No difference, as they are in all depths of water. 

14. It does, as they are not as spry in cold water as in warm. 

15. They do, but are all of one size. 

16. Are seen in great quantities in September, October, and Novem- 
ber, from 2 to 6 inches long. 

17. November and December, gradually. 

. 18. They work westward when leaving the coast. 

20. They live on suction, and their food looks like very fine britt. 

21. They spawn in July and August. 

28. They are found in great quantities all along the New England 
coast. 

29. They do. 

30. The parent fish do not feed on their young. 

31. Lampreys and worms are found, but are not very numerous. 

32. Man seems to be their worst enemy along our coast, but they have 
others, as bluefish, sharks, codfish, bass, seal, porpoises, and other fish ; 
but bluefish seem to kill them for sport, as they kill a great many more 
than they can eat. 

33. Never knew of any. 

34. Purse-seines mostly. 

35. From one hundred to one hundred and fifty fathoms long and 
eighty to ninety feet deep. 

36. Sloops and schooners mostly; some steamers are from twenty to 
fifty tons burden. 

37. From eight to ten compose a gang. 



428 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

38. All parts of tbo day. 

39. No difference. 

40. It does not. 

41. About fifty; and will average from eight to ten men each. 

42. They are taken to the :ry- works at different points along the coast. 

43. Green, Wilcox, Cbapman, Allen, and others. 

44. Green's factory in 1873, 35,000 gals. ; Captain Wilcox said he took 
9,800,000 that averaged 7 gals, to the thousand. Fish have been very 
lat for a few past years. 

4G. Steam-works cost from five to fifty thousand dollars. 
47. About two dollars per thousand. 

50. When they first come on to the coast in the spring they yield the 
least oil. 

51. In the fcill when they are about to leave the coast they yield the 
greatest quantity of oil. 

53. About the same as right whale oil. 

54. Boston, New York, and Philadelphia. 

55. All through the New England and Middle States it is used for 
fertilizing. 

50. For tanneries and adulterating paint-oils. 

57. From thirty-eight to forty cents; previous years it has sold as 
high as sixty-two cents. 

58. It does. 



38. Statement of William H. Potter^ Mystic River ^ Conn., January 27, 1874. 

1. Bony-fish. 

2. More plentiful. 

3. Increased. 

4. Quinnipiac Oil Company, 2,174 barrels; J. Green & Co., 2,111 
barrels; G. S. Allyn & Co., 1,377 barrels; Quiambog Oil Company, 355. 
barrels; Gardiner Oil Company, 289 barrels; E. Chapman, 200 barrels; 
total, G,30G barrels © $12.60. In 1872 there were 4,532 barrels. 

5. No. 

G. April and May. Not generally. Yes. 

7. nigh. Yes. Yes. 

8. From the south. Pass out east and west. 

9. Not more than two weeks' difference. They fail in port. 

10. Probably not, as they have increased in numbers yearly. 

11. They come at the turn of the tide. 

12. Long Island and Fisher's Island Sounds, Block Island Bay, and 
Providence River. 

13. From three to twenty fathoms. 

14. Yes. 

15. Yes, but not always. 

IG. Yes. Three inches in the fall. 



HISTOEY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 429 

17. October 15 to November 15. , By degrees. 

18. Southerly. 

19. South of Hatteras. 

20. Vegetable sea- weed and a sort of white jelly which determine their 
distance from the surface. They follow it. 

21. Here in the spring and south in the winter. They spawn in and 
near rivers. 

22. They mix promiscuously. 

24. Before and after the warmest weather ; in June, July, and October. 

25. At the bottom in river-grass. 

26. Float near the bottom. 

27. Soon after laid. 

28. Yes, in shoals, generally by themselves. Kear the shore in the 
fall. 

29. Yes. 

30. All larger fish. No. 

31. No. 

32. Greatly. 

33. No. 

34. Purse-nets, pounds, and seines. 

35. Average, 100 feet deep, 800 to 2,000 feet long. 

36. Boats of from 40 to 75 tons burden. 

37. Nine. 

38. All day and into the night. 

39. No great difference. 

40. Sometimes. 

41. Sixty boats, in all employing 240 men. 

42. Used for their oil ; the refuse is used for guano. They are also 
used for bait. The oil is made at the factories along the coast. 

43. See No. 4. 

45. Probably twice or thrice the actual catch (see No. 4). 

46. Hydraulic presses, tanks, boilers, steam or hand power and run- 
ning-gear. Costly. 

48. One barrel. 

49. Forty gallons. 

50. A quart to the barrel. 

51. Four gallons. In the autumn. 

52. Yes. 

53. Commenced hereon a small scale thirty-five years ago ; it is con- 
stantly increasing. 

54. New York and Boston. 

55. South. 

i)Q. Painting and to adulterate other oils. 

57. Forty cents per gallon at wholesale. Two years ago it was over 
50 cents per gallon. 

58. No. 



430 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 
39. Statement of John Washington, Mystic, Conn., December 30, 1874. 

1. Bony-fish. 

2. The most uumerous. 

3. Not changed. 
5. Not late years. 

C. The stragglers arrive here about the fore part of April, the schools 
the last of the month, and continue coming in the first half of the sum- 
mer. 

7. When traveling they swim low ; when feeding at the surface they 
show a ripple. They do not attract birds. 

8. They come from the south along the coast; we hear of their passing 
the Jersey coast eight or ten days sooner than they pass Montauk. 
After passing in past the outer islands, the large schools separate into 
smaller ones, and the farther they go from the sea the smaller they get 
until they arrive at the rivers and coves. 

9. Their arrival each year varies but a few days. Never fail. Some 
seasons not as plenty as others. 

10. The large schools do not come as near as formerly. 

11. They travel with tides. 

12. The entrance of rivers and bays when not disturbed. 

13. Any depth suits them, but they swim near the surface. 

14. They remain in the warm waters of the rivers and coves through 
the heat of summer. We also find some stragglers here in the river 
as late as freezing weather in the fall. 

15. We find all ages, from one year up, in the large schools. 

16. The young fish of f to 1 J inches long are found here passing out 
of all the rivers and coves which have brackish water in them. In tLie 
months of October and November. 

17. Old and young begin to go in October, and by the last of Novem- 
ber are all gone. 

18. They go to southwest along the coast, and faster than they come 
in the spring. 

19. They pass to the south of Cape Hatteras and remain through 
the winter on the coast and in the sounds and bays of North and South 
Carolina. This is the winter resort of most kinds of the summer fish of 
this coast. » 

20. When in the rivers they feed on fine moss that grows on the weeds, 
and a scum that floats on the surface. At sea and in the open waters 
their principal feed are minute jellies and brit, a minute crab that at 
times is so numerous as to color the water. 

21. In the brackish water of all the rivers and coves into which brooks 
empty their waters. In the months of May, June, and July. 

22. My imi)ression is that when the fish start in the spring to migrate 
north along the coast, those with the ripe spawn (which are earlier with 
some than others, for we find full-grown spawn all the season) leave the 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 431 

main school acd go to the nearest suitable water and deposit tbeir 
spawn, anywhere from Carolina to Maine. The fish that come in this 
river to spawn come in May as stragglers when the schools are outside ; 
at that time the spawn will run and the fish are soon spent; at this time 
they are worthless for bait or oil, and do not get in good condition until 
they pass out. 

23. No. 

24. Forty degrees to sixty degrees. 

25. On flats that are nearly dry at low water. 

30. Eels and Irost-fish gathered in the vicinity of the spawning- 
grounds. 

31. Very free from them. 

32. To a great extent, as all other fish feed on them. 

33. Have never s^n any symptoms of any. 

I cannot answer the others as to catch, profits, «fec., as I am not en. 
gaged in extracting oil from them. 



40. Statement of Leander Wilcox, Mystic Bridge, Conn., January 15, 1875. 

1. Bony fish. 

2. Most plentiful. 

3. Probably increased. 

4. One hundred and nine thousand six hundred barrels. Mint Head 
Company or Noyes Neck Oil Company, 4,200 barrels; G. S. Allyn & 
Co., 38,000 barrels ; Quinippiac Company, 30,000 barrels; K. Chapman, 
9,00J barrels ; Quiambog Company, 7,200 barrels ; Gardner & Co., 11,200 
barrels ; Andrews Island Company, 8,000 barrels. 

6. May 1. No. At four different times. 

7. High. The3^ make a ripple. Yes. 

8. South. They pass both east and west in this region. 

9. Quite regular. They never fail for more than one season ; even 
then only partially ; they return in greater abundance. 

11. More are apt to come to the top at the turn of the tide. 

12. Differ at different times. 

13. From 10 to 100 feet, and they sometimes lie on the bottom. 

14. Yes. 

15. No. No. 

16. Yes, in midsummer. They are from 2 to 3 inches long. 
•17. In December, or before, in a body or in schools. 

18. As they came. 

19. In warm climates, always keeping in water of a uniform tempera- 
ture. 

20. A fine white jelly. 

21. Here in the spring and south in the winter. 

22. There are a dozen or more females to one male. 



4.32 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

23. No. 

24:. The water must be measurably cold, never warm. 

25. Shoal. 

26. Float. 

28. Yes; everywhere; but they do not mix with adults; they school 
by themselves aud are often mistaken for large fish. 

29. No. 

30. Eels, toad fish, and other inshore fish. 

31. No. 

32. Largely from sharks, bluefish, and porpoises. 

33. No. 

34. Purse-seines, pounds, and gill-nets. 

35. From 500 to 1,000 yards long aud from 80 to 150 feet deep. 

30. Small lighters, from 2 to 75 tons burden, aud steamers of the lat- 
ter size. 

37. Ten men. 

38. All hours. 

39. No. See 11. 

40. Not much effect. 

41. About 55 altogether. They employ, say, 500 hands, beside 250 
landsmen to handle aud manufacture into oil. 

42. Brought to their factories. 

43. Quiambog Oil Company, Mint Head or Noyes Neck Oil Com- 
pany, G. S. Allyu & Co., R. Chapman & Co., and Quinippiac Company. 

44. On au average, one gallon to each barrel of fish. See No. 4. 

45. Twice the actual manufacture. 
40. Cost from $5,000 to $75,000. 

47. In 1874 about 35 cents. 

48. Differs very much; from 2,500 to 3,000. 

53. Commenced twenty years ago. 

54. New York and Boston. 

55. North and south. 

50. To adulterate other oils and for painting and tanning ; it takes the 
place of whale-oil. 

57. In 1874, 40 cents. 

58. No. See No. 3. 



41. Statement of Samuel C. Becbe, Cornfield Point Light- Vesselj N'o. 12, 
Saybroolc, Conn.j January 6, 1875. 

1. Bony fish. • 

2. More abundant. 
' 3. Increased. 

4. Fish are measured by the thousand in cars. Luce Brothers took in 
1873, with three seines, 9,000,000. In 1872, with four seines, 13,000,000. 
In 1871, 17,000,000. 

5. It does not Beem to. 



HISTOKY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 4o3 

6. lu April ; but these are not the largest. There are two runs, called 
the spring and eastern run. 

7. High. They make ripples on the water. 

8. By Watch Hill and Montauk. They work towards the bays and 
rivers, along the sound and at its head. 

9. They have never altogether failed, but are more plentiful at some 
seasons than at others. 

10. No. 

11. In bays, &c., they move in at the flow and out at the ebb. 

12. Bays. 

IG. They are, from June to November, at different times. Yery small. 

17. About the middle of November, in a body. 

18. Montauk Point. 

19. Southern bays and rivers. 

20. Suction of scum, it is supposed. 

21. In bays and rivers. During May, June, July, and August. 

22. They are mixed indiscriminately. 

23. No. 

28. They are, in bays, rivers, and creeks. 

29. No. 

31. No. 

32. Very much. 

33. No. 

34. Mostly purse-nets. 

35. From 100 to 150 fathoms long, and 11 to 18 deep. 

36. Sloops, mostly averaging 20 tons. 

37. From 8 to 12. 

38. The greater part. 

39. I have never noticed any difference. 

40. Not much, but they generally work to windward. 

41. About 150 vessels ; an average of 10 men each. 

42. They are used for the oil. 

43. Luce Brothers. 

47. In 1873, from $2 to $2.50 per thousand. In previous years from 
$1.25 to $2. 

48. Eight gallons to the thousand. 

50. It is least in summer, and most in the fall. 
56. Used for painting. 
58. No. 



42. Statement of E. U. Inghmn, Sayhroolc Light-Souse, Saydroolc, Conn., 



March 17, 1874. 



1. Whitefish and bony-fish. 

2. More abundant. 

3. No. 

28 F 



434 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

5. No. 

6. First seen in May. Main body arrives in June. First are scatter- 
ing, and generally largest. There are more runs than one; intervals 
not regular. 

7. Schools swim high, and are always seen. They attract fish-hawks. 

9. Their appearance is regular and certain. 

10. No. 

11. They seem to have no regard to state of tide. 

12. In this neighborhood the whole of Long Island Sound and the 
mouth of Connecticut Eiver, for several miles up. 

13. From three inches upward, indefinitely. 

14. They are never seen here when the water is cold. 

16. Yes, in August. Three to five inches long. 

17. In October, mostly in a body. 
20. Doubtful; said to be infusoria. 
23. No. 

28. Yes; in the creeks ard coves about the mouth of Connecticut 
Eiver. 

29. No. 

30. Enemies not known. Parent fish do not devour them. 

31. No. 

32. A great extent. 

33. No. 

34. Purse-nets and pound-nets (pens) and hauling-seines. 

35. Purse-nets 100 fathoms and upward long, and 6 to 10 fathoms 
deep. Pound-nets 100 rods (more or less) long, and as deep as the wa- 
ter where they are used. Seines 60 rods. 

36. With purse-nets. Sloops of from 12 to 20 tons. Pound-nets and 
seines, boats of 2 to 3 tons. 

37. Purse-nets and seines, 8 to 10 ; pound-nets, 3. 

38. Any part, as occasion requires. 

39. No. 

40. No. 

41. Between Connecticut Eiver and New Haven, probably 25 vessels 
and 200 men. 

42. Sold for manure, or manufactured into oil and scrap (fish guano). 
Those for manure are used on the spot ; those to be manufactured are 
sold to neighboring factories. 

43. One at Salt Island, Westbrook, owned by John Stokes and others. 

47. One dollar and twenty-five cents to $2 per 1,000 fish ; not sold by 
barrel. 

48. One and one-half to 8 gallons to every 1,000 fish, according to size 
and condition of fish. 

54. New York City. 

55. Everywhere. It is like wheat flour or greenbacks. 
50. Tanning leather and adulterating more expensive oils. 
58. No. 



HISTORY OP THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 435 

43. Statement of J. L. Stolces, Westhrook, Conn., February 25, 1875. 

1. Wbitefish. 

2. Most numerous. 

4. Salt Island Oil Company, 6,400 barrels. 

6. About the middle of May. 

7. Swim low at first. 

8. Around Montauk Point. 

9. Quite regular and certain, though more plenty some years than 
others. 

11. Come in on the flood tide and go out on ebb tide. • 

12. Bays and rivers. 

13. About 15 feet. Swim all depths. 

15. Mature iu one year. 

16. Young fish are seen in October, about 6 inches long. 

17. Leave in November in continuous schools. 

18. Around Montauk, bound south. 

19. In a southern climate. 

20. Live on suction ; we always find mud inside. 

21. In large bays and sounds. 

28. Yes; they are some seasons abundant. 

30. Eels ; parent fish cannot swallow them. 

31. A living species is sometimes found on poor fish, near the gills, and 
are called by fishermen lousy. 

32. Bluefish destroy more than all other fish. Sharks and porpoises 
scatter and break the schools. 

35. From 15 to 75 feet deep and from 40 to 100 rods long. 

36. Sloop, steamers, and lighters. 

37. Twelve men to a gang. 

38. All times of the day. 

40. They drift to the leeward in hard winds. 

41. Five vessels ; thirty men. 

42. Used by farmers and on the spot for oil. 

43. Salt Island Oil Company ; J. L. Stokes, manager, 
40. A hydraulic press costs $1,000 cash. 

47. Thirty- seven cents per barrel in 1873. 

48. Four gallons to 1,000 fish. 

49. Nine thousand fish make one ton of scrap. 

50. They yield double. 

54. New York and Boston. 

55. Atpatent manure manufactures. 

56. Used by tanners and rope-makers. 

57. Fifty cents per gallon. 



44. Statement of F. LilUngston, Stratford, Conn. 

1. Whitefish, generally. 

2. One thousand to one. 



436 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

3. General catch same. Growing scarce on shore previous to, but 
abundant in 1874. 

4. About 5,000 barrels each year. 

5. Not appreciably, according to old fishermen. 

6. Seen near shore May 20. First largest, August. 

7. High. Attract no birds. 

8. From the east. During July and August, they came at the first 
flood, west-northwest to Stratford point ; then south-southwest toward 
Long Island, and returned on ebb tide. 

9. Come every year, but do not always strike on shore. 

10. No. 

11. Old fishermen say none in deep water. My experience is, they 
always follow the tide. 

12. Near fresh water. 

14. Yes. Swim high in warm weather. 

15. Yes. Sometimes along shore ; not usually in deep water. 

16. Yes. Three to six inches long. 

17. Last of October. At once. 

18. South. 

21. I have often seen, in a set-net holding 10,000, a roll of spawn 3 
feet in circumference, lying on, but not attached to bottom of net; this 
was in Juno and July. 

26. Sink. No. No. 

28. Mouths of rivers. 

30. Porpoises, sharks, and bluefish. 

33. Many of those we caught on shore had a reddish blotched ap- 
pearance ; sometimes thousands found dead on shore appearing similar. 
Others were eaten as if by cancer. 

34. Greatest catch is by purse-nets. 

37. Ten each. 

38. All day. 

39. No. 

40. Yes. 

41. Thirty. Three hundred men. 

42. Make oil. 

43. Geo. W. Miles Company, Welche's Point Company. 

44. One thousand to 2,000 barrels. 

46. Steam boilers and tanks. 

47. Fish sold by 1,000, ® $1.50 to $2 per 1,000. 

48. Fifty to 100. Much more oily sometimes than others. 

49. Twenty to 50 gallons. 
52. Yes. 

54. New York, Boston, and New Bedford. 

55. Principal part goes south. 

56. Tanning. 

57. Thirty-five cents to $1.25. 

58. No ; not appreciably. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 437 

45. Statement of B. LilUnfjston, Strafford^ Conn., Fehniary 23, 1874. 

1. Whitefish, buuker, and manhaden. 

2. Surpass in numbers all others. 

3. Diminished very considerably. 

5. Very much. 

6. Generally about the 1st of May first seen. 

7. Swim on surface ; do not attract birds. 

8. From east, going west. 

9. Found here every season, but in equal abundance. 

10. Undoubtedly. 

11. Generally follow the tide. 

14. Probably, as they are not found here in winter. 

16. Immense numbers of young, 2 to 3 inches, long are found in this 
river (Housatouic) during the fall. 

21. iu An'^ust and September immense numbers strike on and follow 
up the river ; iiio»e are invariably poor when so caught. In October the 
young appear in the river. 

28. In and at the mouth of the Housatonic. 

30. Bass and bluefish. 

33. Large numbers are sometimes washed ashore along this coast in 
September and October. 

34. Pounds, i)urse-nets, &c. 
36. Vessels of light tonnage. 

38. Whole day. 

39. Flood tide. 

40. Does not. 

42. Caught for oil ; refuse sold for fertilizers. 

43. One in Milford Harbor, Miles & Co. 
58. Very materially, in this locality. 



46. Statement of George W. Miles, Miiford, Conn., January 17, 1874. 

1. Whitefish and menhaden. 

2. There are no fish to be compared to them in abundance ; they are 
innumerable. 

3. Have not diminish-ed, so far as a person can judge, but have rather 
increased. We count by the thousand ; it takes 3^ barrels for one 
thousand. 

4. 1873,12,000,000; 1872,10,000,000; 1871,8,000,000; 1870,8,000,000. 

5. No, it is not. 

6. April and May. Main body arrives in Long Island Sound during 
June and July. Sometimes the first fish are the largest; have known 
small fish to come in as late as August. The schools or runs appear to 
come at intervals of from two to three weeks. 

7. The fish swim both high and low, and can only be captured to any 



438 EEPOET OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

extent when seen on the surface of the water ; they can be seen for miles 
in every direction lying on or near the surface, and are discovered by the 
ripple on the water; also by birds, sea-gulls being attracted by them. 

8. We first hear of them along the sea-coast of New Jersey and Long 
Island; they come into the sound by way of Montauk. The early fish 
follow along the Connecticut shores and up the rivers, but later in the 
season, when the waters are warm, they are found off shore in deep 
water. Occasionally they work in shore and up the rivers. 

9. Their appearance is regular and certain; have never known them 
to fail. 

10. IsTo ; but they are more difficult to capture. 

11. Not noticeable. 

12. Long Island Sound, during the summer months, appears to be one 
of their favorite localities. 

13. Early in the season they prefer shoal water, and they swim low, 
but during the summer and fall they prefer deep water and swim high. 

14. In warm weather they appear to be in thin schools and are scat- 
tered more on the surface. 

15. Yes. The one and two year old fish are often found with the 
oldest. 

'■ 16. The young fish are seen during the months of August and Septem- 
ber, from 3 to 4 inches in length. 

17. They begin to leave the sound about the 1st of September, and 
leave by degrees in large bodies. They are all gone by the 1st or 15th 
of October. 

18. Same route as they come by. 

19. South or near the Gulf stream. 

20. Scum, or minute insect, on the surface. 

21. Along the shores and rivers in May and June. \ 

22. Sexes are mixed indiscriminately. 
26. They sink to the bottom. 

28. The young are found in great abundance all along the shores of 
the sound, "and more particularly in the vicinity of the oil factories," 
in large schools. I have seen hundreds of schools at a time, containing 
millions in a body. In fact, the expert fishermen sometimes mistake 
them for large fish, and make preparations to set their net before they 
find their mistake. 

29. Seldom, if ever; occasionally we see fish that have spawns in 
them ; it shows after being cooked ; the very large ocean fish that never 
come into the sound but come in from sea and are captured cast of New 
London at Montauk, south side of Long Island, Sandy Hook, and the 
Jersey coast ; from these more particularly the spawn is found to run. 

31. Occasionally lampreys. Wa sometimes notice red lice late in the 
fall OQ the large fish that come in from sea. 

32. Sharks are their greatest enemy ; these and porpoises prey upon 
them continually and destroy large numbers of them. 



HISTOEY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 439 

33. Never have seen any that have died from sickness or disease. 

34. The nets are made of cotton twiue, and purse up at the bottom. 

35. Nets are from 120 to 140 fathoms long, and from 10 to 15 fathoms 
deep, according to the depth of water where they are used. 

36. Fast sailing sloops and sloop-yachts, of from 20 to 25 tons bur- 
den, for the men- who find and capture the fish, and sloops (lighters) 
of from 15 to 30 tons burden to carry the fish away. On the coast of 
Maine steamers are used in place of the yachts and lighters. 

37. Eleven men and two boys to each net. The boys assist on the 
lighters. 

38. All day, from daylight to dark. 

39. The tide makes no difference with them. 

40. Sometimes it does; usually they are moving to the windward 
when on the surface. 

41. We have 12 sloops, and 50 men employed on them; also from 15 
to 25 men employed in each factory. If the fish come in plentifully, we 
increase our working forces. 

42. The fish are taken directlj^ after being caught to the factory, and 
placed immediately in large tanks, and boiled by steam until thoroughly 
cooked and the flesh will separate from the bones when taken out of 
the water. Some are made into sardines, which are pronounced the 
best in the market. 

43. The George W. Miles Company have the two largest factories; 
these are in Connecticut or New York State. One is a floating factory, 
and is moved to the locality where the fish are most plentiful : the 
Welche's Point Oil Company, with one net and three sloops; Fowler 
and Colburn, of Guilford, two nets and G sloops. 

44. The largest quantity of oil we ever made at one factory in any 
one year was in 1871 ; we then made 100,000 gallons in about 50 work- 
ing days. The largest quantity in the shortest time was 21,000 gallons 
of oil in 72 hours, or 7,000 gallons per day of 24 hours. This unusual 
quantity of oil was owing to the fatness of the fish. We made in 1872 
60,000 gallons of oil; in 1873, 105,000 gallons at the two factories, one 
factory not being in operation the whole season on account of the delay 
caused by lawsuits brought by some malicious and designing persons 
for purposes of gain. A part of the season was thus lost, and the quan- 
tity of oil was less than what it should be. 

45. The capacity for oil is limited by the facilities for capturing the 
fish; the nets and vessels engaged must be the best, and the men with 
large experience are required to make the business successful. 

46. Boilers cost from $2,000 to $4,000; two hydraulic presses^ with 
curbs and fixtures, cost $2,000 each ; engines, i)umps, shaftiing, pulleys, 
&c., range from $10,000 to $50,000. 

47. In 1873 the price for fish ranged from $1 to $2.50 per thousand, 
according to the yield ot oil. 

48. We have worked fish when they would not make over one gallon 



440 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

per thousand and from that all the way to 18 gallons. The average 
yield is from 4 to 6 gallons per thousand. Some seasons the fish are so 
poor we can barely pay expenses. We then are obliged to i)ay low 
prices for fish — say from $1.25 to $1.50 per thousand. The fishermen 
at those prices cannot make day wages uuless the fish are very plenty. 
The consequence is, when the fish are scarce the men leave the business, 
and the vessels have to lay up until other men can be found. This is one 
great drawback to the business, and many factories have been obliged 
to give up the business on account of it. 

49. This all depends on the quality of the fish, whether fat or poor, 
and will vary from 10 to 150 gallons, and in some rare cases as high as 
250 gallons to one ton. 

50. This all depends on the quality of the fish. Some days a net will 
take fish that will make 15 gallons, and perhaps the next haul the fish 
taken might not make 5 gallons ; but these extremes are rare, except 
late in the fall, when the fish are moving south and come together from 
different localities ; then we are as liable to get poor fish as fat ones. 

51. In this vicinity, during July, August, and September, we get the 
fish only that come into the sound for their feediug ground, and which 
fat after they get here. If they are poor, we have the largest catch in 
June and July. If they are increasing in fatness or yield of oil, we can- 
not capture them sucessfully until August and September. The fat fish 
in the sound are usually wild and hard to take until late ; this may be 
owing somewhat to the fact that the feed is plentiful and low in the 
water. When we have an unusual dry season, so very dry that cress are 
almost a failure, then we are pretty sure of fat fish and an unus'ual 
quantity of jelly-fish floating on the water, which perhaps may be one 
source of supply of feed. On the other hand, in very wet seasons we find 
them below the average in yield of oil. 

52. The northern fish always yield more than the southern. The fish 
appear here and farther north nine seasons out of ten " spring poor," 
as the farmer terms his cattle that have been exposed to the iiiclemeut 
weather and fed on coarse fodder ; but after they get here, if their feed 
is plenty, they fatten very fast. This can be proved by the past season. 
During the months of May and June one million of fish would make 
only eight hundred gallons of oil ; in August, the yield was from eight 
to ten gallons per thousand, and in September ten to twelve gallons per 
thousand. 

54. The market for oil is principally in New York and Boston. The 
dealers in those cities have a very extensive trade all over this country, 
and large quantities are shipped to Europe. 

55. The scrap is used very extensively in a raw state by the farmers 
and tobacco- growers of Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Long 
Island, and New York State. It is a standard manure and fertilizer 
when used judiciously by those who understand how to use it. The 
principal market is with the superphosphate manufacturers. When 



HISTOEY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 441 

manufactured it is iu a mucb better condition for use, and can be applied 
more evenly to the land and iu much smaller quantities to the crops 
without danger of burning. This is the greatest source of supply this 
country affords for a manure rich in ammonia, and it is worth more to 
this country than the islands that furnish us with Peruvian guano. In 
the season of 1873 there were landed in the cities of Charleston, S. C, 
and Savannah, Ga., alone 85,0€0 tons of superphosphate, nearly all of it 
having fish-scrap as its base. 

56. The oil is used mostly by tanners and curriers ; it is also used 
for outside painting. 

57. Prices ranged in 1873 from 60 cents in April to 40 cents in Au- 
gust; then to 40 and 48 cents in September; then the panic burst upon 
the country and brought business to a stand-still. Prices for a lew past 
years have ranged from 45 to 60 cents. 

58. It is not possible nor in the i}ower of man, with all the modern 
improvements at his command, to n)aterially diminish their numbers. 

On the shores of Connecticut 88,200,000 fish, producing 8,820 tons of 
scrap, valued at $16 per ton in bulk at the factory, were caught, and 
309,900 gallons of oil were made, bringing 45 cents per gallon. On the 
shores of Long Island 82,700,000 fish, producing 8,270 tons scrap, at $16 
per ton, were caught, and 291,200 gallons of oil were made, bringing 
45 cents per gallon. 

The above is a correct statement, as near as possible, of all the fish 
caught on the shores of Connecticut and Long Island during the sea- 
son of 1872. Comparison with the previous year shows a decrease in 
the catch of fish of some 70,000,000, which would make, at the average 
yield of oil this year, 245,000 gallons, and about 7,000 tons of scrap. 
The decrease iu the catch is readily explained : there were some six or 
eight manufacturers less tuan in 1871, some having stopped business 
on account of threats of lawsuits by malicious persons, who attempted 
to break up every honorable and profitable business. 

Notwithstanding the decrease in catch of fish there were more seen 
in the waters, and those who persisted iu catching from the beginning 
to the end of the season caught more than they did the previous year; 
in fact, fish were never more plentiful. It would seem, from the great 
quantity caught from year to year, that whitefish would soou be ex- 
tinct ; but it is a surprising fact that for the past few years they have 
been steadily increasing in numbers. 



47. Statement of W. 8. Savens, Collector of Customs, 8ag Harbor, N. Y., 

January 1, 1875. 

1. Menhaden. 

2. More than all other kinds together. 

3. No apparent change. 
5. Not perceptibly. 



442 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OP FISE AND FISHERIES. 

6. April ; come in schools ; largest in the fall. 

7. Generally near the surface. 

8. Come and go, south. 

9. Some years they are a partial failure, but I do not know the cause. 

10. Yes. 

11. None perceptible. • 

12. In this district ; Gardiner's Bay. 

13. Swim near the surface. 

14. Yes, they leave soon after cold weather. 

15. Generally find them of the same size. 

17. Leave in a body. 

18. For the south. 

20. On a mossy substance called bunker-feed. 

21. In creeks, inlets, and rivers. 

22. All go together. 

23. Not discovered. 

24. Moderately warm. 

25. Various depths. 

26. Think they settle to the bottom. 

28. Karely seen at ^11. 

29. Believe not. 

30. Sharks and bluefish devour them. 

31. They are not found there. 

32. To a great extent. 

34. Purse-nets. 

35. Length, 150 fathoms ; depth, 100 feet. 

36. Sloops, and schooners of from 15 to 20 tons burden. 

37. Nine men. 

38. About three-fourths of the day. 

39. No. 

40. East winds break them up. 

41. Sixty vessels and 540 men. 

42. Used near by. 

43. About 20. Wells, Parsons, Yail, Tuthill, and others. 

44. Five hundred barrels to each factory. 

45. From 1,000 to 1,500 barrels. 

46. Steam and try-pots j from $5,000 to $10,000. 

47. Say 30 cents. 

48. 200 fish. 

40. Some more, and some less. 

60. One quart. 

51. Four gallons to one barrel. 

53. Say twenty years. 

54. New York. 

55. Southern States. 

56. Painting and adulterating. 



HISTOEY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 443 

57. Fifty cents to $1. 

58. ]S"o ; if it does we do not notice it. 



48. Statement of J. Morrison Eaynor, Agent for Sterling Company, Qreen- 
jport, December 20, 1877. 

The number of gears and sail employed byusthej^ast season was three, 
consisting of three yachts, six lighters or carry-away boats. The Swan, 
24.64 tons ; the Mary 11. Sisson, 20.95 tons ; the Dauntless, 19.70 tons ; 
Titus, Bunker City, 8.G4 tons; Eough and Ready, 10.24 tons; sloop 
Sarah, 10.39 tons ; sloop Kate Eomer, 9.83 tons ; sloop Friendly, 13.37 
tons ; sloop John Marcy, 12.50 tons. Each gang consists of 8 men, 2 
boys, 1 cook — making 9 men and 2 boys; total, 27 men and 8 boys. The 
men fish for a share and not for wages, except cook and boys hired by 
them. Use purse-seines ; are about 125 to 150 fathoms long, 80 to 100 
feet deep. The number of fish taken by them was 14,449,000. 



49. Statement of HawTcins BrotJiers, Jamesport, N'. Y., February 25, 1875, 

1. Mossbnnker or menhaden. 

2. Much more numerous. 

3. Cannot perceive any difference. 
5. Cannot perceive that it does. 

G. About the 1st of May, on the coast of Long Island. The first are 
usually the largest. The schools come in at intervals from the 1st of 
May to the last of August. 

7. They swim both high and low, but usually the former, and make 
a ripple on the water, attracting fish-hawks only. 

8. Come from the south, following the coast and stopping in the bays 
and sounds. 

9. They are not regular but are certain, and are more plentiful in 
some localities and at some seasons than others. 

10. From experience we think not. 

11. Think they move toward the shore more on the flood than on the 
ebb tide. 

12. In bays, sounds, and their entrances. 

13. In all depths on the coast and in the bays. 

14. It does. 

15. Think not; we find no small fish in the spring of the year. I 
believe these fish get their growth in one year. 

16. Yes ; from July to November, from one to six inches long. 

17. Commence to leave in October by degrees. 

18. Following the coast south. 

21. In heads of bays in the spring. 



444 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

28. In great abundance in the heads of bays when first spawned, 
gradually dropping out into deeper water as they attain size. 

29. I think not. 

30. Don't know of any ; think not. 

31. Nothing but an insect, which the fishermen call lice, is occasion- 
ally found on the outside of fish, eating into the body. 

32. To a very great extent, especially bluefish. 

33. Never have known any. 

34. Set-nets, pounds, haul-nets, and purse-nets. 

35. Haul-nets are from ^ to 1 mile long, depth according to depth of 
water where the fishing is done ; purse-nets are from 600 to 1,000 feet 
long, and from 70 to 90 feet deep. 

36. For purse-nets, sloops, schooners, and steamers, of from 10 to 50 
tons burden. 

37. To man a purse-net, 11 men. 

38. All parts. 

39. Think more on the flood tide. 

40. It does. 

41. Number of vessels, 191; whole number of men, 715. This in- 
cludes purse-nets only. 

42. Sometimes they are used in the raw state for manure, but are 
principally carried to the factories, where they are manufactured into oil 
and scrap. 

43. On Barren Island, Jones & Co., V. Koon, Goodkind Bros., Haw- 
kins Bros. ; on shores of Gardiner's Bay, D. Wells & Sons, Sterling Oil 
Company, Horton & Co., Green & Co., Jonathan Preston & Co.,- Cart- 
wright & Co., Frank Price & Co. 

44. About 25,000 gallons. 

45. According to the fatness of the fish ; say, 30,000 gallons. 

46. Engines, boilers, steam-pumps, hydraulic power, and piping, from 
$15,000 to $25,000. 

47. 1873, Barren Island, 50 cents; Gardiner's Bay, 60 cents. 

48. Barren Island, ^ barrel ; Gardiner's Bay, i of barrel. 

49. Barren Island, 57 gallons; Gardiner's Bay, 85 gallons. 

50. One gallon; in midsummer. 

51. Four and' one half gallons in October and November. 

52. Northern fish yield most oil. 

53. The manufacture of oil was commenced on the shores of Gardi- 
ner's Bay about 1850, when the oil was extracted by fermentation. 

54. New York, Boston, and New Bedford. 

55. New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, Maryland, and Virginia. 

56. Painting, tanning, rope-making, and soap-making. 

57. Forty-five cents per gallon ; previous years from 45 cents to $1 
per gallon. 

58. It does not. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 445 

50. Statement of Benjamin R. Sisson, Greenport, E. 2., January 29, 1874. 

1. Moss-bunkers. 

2. They are most numerous. 

3. No apparent difference. 

4. In 1873, 50,000,000 J 10,000,000 additional for shore fisheries. 

5. No. 

6. In March and April. On the 1st of May. The first are the larg- 
est. There are different runs coming in, and at intervals of six weeks. 

7. The first run are known by their capture ; all others by sight and 
by birds. 

8. From the south. 

9. The fish never fail, but some years they are scarce. 
.10. Yes. 

11. In certain localities a flood tide is considered the most favorable 
for a catch. 

12. Shoal-water. 

13. From 10 to 12 feet. 

14. Yes. 

15. Yes. Sometimes they are mixed. 

IG. Yes. From July to November. From 1 to 6 inches long. 

17. From September to January. By degrees. 

18. Ocean routes. 

19. I hear nothing from them south of Cape Hatteras. 

20. Marine animalcula), with small strong fiber. 

21. There seems to be much difference of opinion about this among 
the fishermen; my own impression is that of the first that come in the 
spring, the old fish go stealthily into all the shoal and water bays, de- 
posit their spawn and milt, then go out again and join the general mi- 
gration east. These spawn hatch by the last of June or first of July, 
as the small fish are first seen in these localities about this time. No 
doubt there is another spawning time in the fall, outside, in deep water. 

22. They are mixed indiscriminately. 

23. Yes, in deep water. 

24. Cool water. 

25. Near the surface. 

26. I think they float. 

27. In June and July. From one month to six weeks. 

28. Everywhere in abundance. 

29. Not unless handled roughly. 

30. Eels and bluefish. No . 

31. Worms, crabs, and lampreys are found on the outside, but not 
within. 

32. Very much. I have seen 100 moss-bunkers taken from one shark. 
38. We have not noticed any in this district. 

34. Purse-nets, gill-nets, seines, and pounds. 

35. Purse-nets are from 900 to 1,000 feet long and 100 feet deep GUI- 



446 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

nets are smaller; from 60 to 500 feet loag, by 10 feet deep. Shore 
seines are from ^ to | of a mile long and from 20 to 30 feet deep. 

30. Steamers, schooners, sloops, and cat-rigged boats, from 5 to 50 
tons. 

37. Nine. 

38. All day. 

39. This depends on the locality. 

40. They often leave during high winds. 

41. One hundred and five vessels and 400 men. 

42. It is principally turned to oil and guano. 

43. D. D. Wells & Sons, Sterling County; Hawkins Brothers; H. 
Corwiu & Co. ; G. P. Horton & Co. ; Vail & Benjamin; Benjamin Buy 
Payn ; Green & Co. ; B. C. Cartwright ; Floating fish-factory "Falcon," 
of 2,500 tons, Capt. George Tuthill; Floating fish-factory "Hanger," of 
1,500 tons, Capt. Frank Price. 

44. From 10,000 to 60,000 gallons. 

45. From 1,000,000 to 2,000,000 per week. 

46. Boilers and engines, costing from ten to twenty thousand dollars 
each. 

48. Some fish will make half a gallon per thousand ; some 22 gallons. 

49. Eight thousand fish will make one ton of green scrap. 

50. One gallon per thousand in the spring and fall. 

51. Twenty-two gallons per thousand. In September and October. 

52. Yes. 

53. The moss-bunker business previous to 1850 had been carried on 
for a long time — certainly as far back as 1800. The seines used were 
very long, and were handled from the shore. They frequently caught 
1,000,000 fish at a haul. These fish were used by farmers in a raw 
state for top-dressing. Some portion of them were buried, however, and 
used as a compost. In the year 1850, D. D. Wells & Son started the 
first fcictory in this vicinity, using steam for making oil and scrap. At 
the same time there were other parties using a few pots (whalers' try 
pots), boiling the fish in water and making a very indifferent oil and 
scrap; these, however, were not successful, and were soon abandoned. 
The first oil made by D. D. Wells & Son was of a very dark color, and 
contained much fleshy matter, which made it very offensive to the 
smell. It did not come into much use for some time, and for a long 
time the profits were small ; but by persistent effort on their part, in 
perfecting machinery, the quality of the oil was so much improved as 
to come into general use for certain purposes: for painting, tanning, in 
the manufacture of rope, and for the adulteration of other oils ; the 
scrap was also very much improved by drying, grinding, pulverizing, 
&c. ; thus the business continued so jjrosperously that during the war 
the business had come to be quite remunerative. At that time, under 
the impulse of high prices and plenty of mouey, quite a number of fac- 
tories were put up, and for two or three years the business was some- 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 447 

what overdone. Since that time many have gone out of the business 
altogether ; others have consolidated, and at the present writing there 
are ten establishments in operation and are doing a fair business, giving 
employment to a large number of people and bringing up a hardy race of 
boatmen and sailors. There is about $500,000 invested in the business 
in this vicinity. 

54. New York, Boston, and Europe. 

55. The Connecticut Valley and the Southern States. 

5G. For painting, tanning, manufacture of rope, lubricating, and adul- 
teration. 

57. Thirty- two to 47 cents per gallon in 1873 ; 40 to 50 cents per gal- 
lon in previous years. 

58. The general opinion is that there is no diminution. 



51. Statement of David G. Vail, River Head, Long Island, March 2(i, 1875. 

1. Menhaden. 

2. More abundant than any other. 

3. Has not diminished. 

4. Fifty millions of fish in 1873, and as many in 1874; in this vicinity 
we measure them and pay for them by the thousand, calling each fish 
21 inches, or taking up that amount of space. When they are fat they 
are larger, and then by measure we would get perhaps only 800 fish for 
1,000; then sometimes they come small, and poor, and we would get, 
perhaps, 1,200 fish for the 1,000. In Maine they measure them in bar- 
rells, calling 3U0 fish to each barrel. 

5. Not any, judging from my experience for the last ten years. 

6. From the 1st to the 10th of May. 

7. They swim low when they first come, if the weather is cool, but 
soon come to the top of the water, and are known as top-water fish. 

8. They come from the south, following the coast generally. 

9. Their appearance is regular and certain ; I never knew them to 
fail ; but they are sometimes more plentiful on some grounds than on 
Others. 

10. I think it does tend to change their ground. 

11. Generally they go with the tide. 

12. Bays and sounds. 

13. We find them in any depth of water, but generally they swim on 
the top of the water. 

14. They like warm temperature. 

15. We find one and two year old fish all mixed together. 

16. Yes ; they are spawned at the head of the bays, and stay all sum- 
mer, until they are half grown. 

17. They leave about the 1st of Noveniber, generally in a body. 

18. By the same route as they came, following the coast south. 



448 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

19. Somewhere south. 

20. Kind of very fine jelly fish ; they suck their food, for they have no 
teeth. 

21. At the head of bays generally, at all times of the season. 

22. I think they are indiscriminately mixed as to male and female. 

23. No. 

24. Warm temperature. 

25. Near the bottom. 

26. They float in the water until hatched. 

28. Are in abundance in the locality where they are hatched. 

29. Yes, when nearly matured. 

30. All kinds of fish destroy them, except the parent. 

31. No. 

32. They do not suffer any when compared with the quantities of 
them. 

33. No. 

34. Purse-nets. 

35. From 600 to 1,200 feet long, and 80 feet deep. 

36. Steamers, sloops, and schooners, from 10 to 100 tons each. 

37. About 12 men to each net, with 3 boats or sloops. 

38. All day, unless they load their boats sooner. 

39. No. 

40. Do not think it does. 

41. Fifty vessels, and 175 men. 

42. Tbey are sent directly to the factories by the boats that follow the 
net for that purpose. They are sometimes used as food, and are very 
sweet, but bony. 

43. There are 10, owned by George F. Tuthill «& Co., F. Price & Co., 
D. Wells & Son., J. Preston & Co., Vail, Benjamin & Co., Hawkins 
Bros., H. P. Green, B. C. Cartwright & Co., G. H. Payne, and Fithian & 
Horton. 

44. Six hundred barrels of 40 gallons each. 

45. Tliey could manufacture large quantities if they could get the 
fish and have them fat. 

46. Boiler and engine, hydraulic presses, large tanks for cooking and 
packing cost from $10,000 to $50,000. 

47. From $1 to $2 per barrel ; say $1.50 for the season. 

48. Two hundred fish are about an average for the season. 

49. Depends on fatness of fish; it takes from 8,000 to 10,000 fish to 
make 1 ton of scrap. 

50. Sometimes when very poor we cannot get over J gallon of oil, that 
is in the si)ring and summer. 

51. When very fat 6 gallons can be taken from 1 barrel. 

52. Yes. 

53. The manufacture of oil from menhaden was started in this vicinity 
about thirty years ago by Daniel D. Wells, who boiled them in large 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 449 

kettles and skimmed the oil from the kettle ; then there was only about 
one-half of the oil saved. Since then the business has increased until 
now an enormous business is carried on. 

54. New York. 

55. Phosphated for the Southern States. 

56. Used as a lubricating oil and by leather manufacturers; also for 
paint. 

57. Price in 1873 was about 45 cents a gallon; from 75 cents to $1.10 
in previous years. 

5S. IsTo ; not by any mode that has been practiced. 



52. Statement of Joseph Whaley, Point Judith JLight, Point Judith, E. J., 

December 28, 1874. 
Mr. Baird : 

Sir : 1 have received a circular in regard to the fish known in this 
vicinity as menhaden. I will answer all questions I can. I did not re- 
ceive any blank, so I put it on this. 

1. Menhaden. 

2. More plentiful than any other kind. 

3. I think 1 saw more pass here last June than any time since 1862. 

4. Five hundred barrels. 

5. I do not think that it does, as they are as plenty now as ten years 
ago. 

6. The first fish are seen about the 20th of May ; the main body get 
along about the middle of June. They pass here to the east from the 
20th of May to the 1st of July. 

7. They, as a general thing, near the top of the water, and make 
a ripple or a slick. They do not attract birds, as they do not drive np 
any small bait or other fish. 

8. From the south and bound north and east. 

9. Very regular sometimes ; if the weather is cold and easterly winds 
prevail it puts them back ten to fifteen days. 

10. I do not think it does. 

11. They go or move with the tide, or the way the tide is setting. 

12. Rivers and bays. 

13. Sometimes high, and sometimes about halfway to the bottom. I 
think they prefer water from 10 to 20 feet deep. 

14. They leave here when the water gets too cold. 

15. I do not think they do. I cannot tell the young from the old, as 
they get their growth in a year. I have seen them shut up lor nine 
mouths; they have then nearly their length. 

16. They are seen in large quantities in November ; they are about 2 
inches long. 

17. They begin to leave in October, and continue to the 15th of De- 
cember by degrees. 

29 F 



450 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

18. Southwest. 

19. iSome place where the water is warmer than it is here. 
21. In rivers and bays. 

28. They are, in river and bay, and all along shore. 

29. Yes; they suffer most from bluefish and striped bass when they 
are young. I do not know to what extent. 

34. Purse-seines and gill-nets. 

35. The length varies I'rora 200 to 300 yards ; the depth from 20 to CO 
feet. 

36. Sail and steamers. 

58, I do not think that it does. 

I will here state that there is a great many fish taken near this point, 
but as there is no harbor near they are carried away to market. This 
is a passing point for most all kinds of fish to pass from the south to the 
north, from the east to the west. 



53. Statement of A. G. Wolf, Ahsecom Lights Atlantic City, K. J"., March 

6, 1874. * 

1. Mossbunker. 

2. More numerous than any other fish. 

3. No difference. 

4. Two hundred and fifteen barrels by Adams & Co. About same last 
year. 

5. No. 

6. In April ; main body in July. No. Yes. Depending on tide. 

7. Very high ; fins out of water ; come in a solid body, as deep as you 
can see in the water. They make a ripple and can be seen on calm days 
for half a mile. Attract birds, such as fish-hawks and sea gulls. 

8. Come from the south ; shift into and out of inlets with the tide. 

9. Have never failed to come in regularly. 

10. Has no effect. 

11. Drift with the tide. 

12. No favorite feeding grounds. 

13. Swim high, and are seen in both shoal and deep water. 

14. No. 

15. Come in all sizes ; cannot tell their age. 

16. In the fall you can see millions of little fish not over two inches 
long. 

17. Leave by degrees, beginning in September. 
18 Go south. 

19. South. 

20. Can't tell ; they take no bait. 

21. Up in the bays and inlets in spring. 

24. Seem to prefer warm water, for they go up the bays as far as pos- 
sible. 



HISTORY OF THE AMEEICAN MENHADEN. 451 

26. Settle and become attached to shells and stones. 

28. Yes ; in fresh-water creeks. 

29. Yes. 

30. Bluefish catch the fish. Parents do not eat the spawn. 

31. Bug or fish-louse on outside ; a worm is attached to the outside 
and bores into them, and sometimes a bug is found in the roof of the 
mouth. 

32. Suffer from all fish ; bluefish are their worst enemy. 

33. Not here. 

34. Gill and purse nets. 

35. One hundred to three hundred fathoms long, 12 feet deep. 

36. Boats from four to five tons for gill-nets; schooners, sloops, and 
one steamer of from ten to twenty tons for purse-nets. 

37. Eleven men to a net. 

38. All day, if good weather. 

39. No. 

40. East wind affects them. 

41. Ten vessels ; forty men. 

42. Tried out near Little and Great Egg Harbors. 

43. None in the neighborhood. 

44. Two hundred and fifteen barrels. 

45. Not known. 

46. Five thousand dollars in one factory. 

47. One dollar and twenty-five cents per thousand fish. 

48. Four gallons of oil per thousand fish. 

49. Forty gallons. 

50. Least in August. 

51. Greatest in November, eleven gallons per thousand. 

52. Northern fish yield most. 

54. New York City. 

55. The South. 

56. For tanning and adulterating paint-oils. 

57. Forty-five cents per gallon. 

58. Does not seem to diminish them. 

Questions were answered by Messrs. Bowen, Strickland, and Conover, 
of Atlantic City, and Capt. John D. Sanders, of Leedsville, N. J. 



54. Statement of Albert Morris, Somers Point, N. J., January 12, 1875. 

1. Mossbunker. 

2. There are a thousand times as many. 

3. No. 

4. 7,200 ; 1874, 12,000. 

5. Think not. 

6. About 1st of May. The main body arrive about 20th June. There 
are sometimes three or four runs a week. 



452 KEPOET OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

7. High, so that they can be seen. 

8. Mostly follow the coast. 

9. It always has been regular. 

10. It does not, for sometimes they are caught in 2 feet of water. 

11. Go with the title. 

12. From the beach to about five or six miles from shore, and some- 
times more. 

13. From 1 to 10 fathoms. 

14. It does. 

15. They do both. 

16. They are in great abundance, and are from 3 to 5 inches in length. 

17. About the middle of September, but the eastern run comes along 
about the last of October. 

18. They follow the coast. 

19. From Chesapeake Bay to Cape Hatteras. 

20. A very small substance, scarcely seen by the naked eye when the 
sun shines. 

21. AloDg the coast. 

28. They are, along tJ e coast. 

29. They are. 

31. Crabs are found in the gills. 

32. To quite an extent. 

33. Yes J in October, 1873, they floated ashore by tons. 
31. Purse-nets. 

35. Two hundred fathoms long, 500 meshes deep. 

30. Sloops of about 20 tons. 

37. Seven. 

38. All day. 

39. Most of our fishing is done out at sea, where the tide does not make 
any difference. 

40. It does, especially easterly winds. 

41. Three vessels; 9 men. 

42. For manure (guauo); part is used in the vicinity, and part shipped 
to Wilmington aud Philadelphia. 

43. Somers Point Oil Works, John D. Sanders, J. S. Adams, and 
others. 

44. About 300 barrels. 

45. Two thousand barrels. 
40. Pot work. Costs $8,000. 

47. Thirty-one cents per barrel. 

48. One barrel. 

49. Forty-five gallons. 

50. One quart; in the summer, July and August. 

51. Four gallons, in October and November. 

52. They do. 
54. New York. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 453 



55. Wilmington. 

56. Painting. 

57. Forty to 50 cents per gallon. 

58. I think not. 



55. Statement of D. E. Foster^ Cape May Light-Rouse, N. J., February 15, 

1875. 

1. Bony fish. 

2. They are more numerous than any other fish visiting our coast. 

6. They come from the south ; the first arrival is about April ; these 
fish are larger but not so fat as those which come about July. 

7. They generally swim in schools near the surface. 
17. They leave about iSTovember, heading to the north. 

30. They are preyed upon by sharks, porpoises, fish-hawks, &c. 
33. I have not known of any disease to prevail among the fish here. 
42. They are used mostly for manure. There is no oil manufactured 
here. 



56. Statement of A. A. Owens, Pliiladelpliia, Pa., March 31, 1875. 

I. Oldwives and mossbuukers. 

3. Cannot perceive either way. 

4. None. 

5. No; there are very few captured. 

6. They are first seen in June and July. The last are the largest. 

7. They swim high and make a ripple. 

8. From the northeast in large schools. 

9. They seldom fail. 

10. I think not. 

II. They come in on the flood and pass out on the ebb tide. 

12. Along the coast and in the inlets. 

13. They generally prefer deep water. 

14. They become somewhat torpid when sudden cold weather comes. 

15. Sometimes both together. 

16. There are no very small ones seen. 

17. They leave by degrees in the fall. 

18. Northward and eastward. 

22. They seem to mix indiscriminately in schools. 

29. I think not. 

30. The bluefish is their greatest enemy. 

32. They are destroyed in great numbers by fish on the coast. 

33. Very seldom in this vicinity. 

34. Pocket nets and seines. 
43. None. 

51. Greatest in the fall. 

54. New York and Philadelphia. 



454 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

55. New York and Philadelphia. 

57. Fifty cents per gallon. 

58. We cannot see that it does diminish them. 



57. Statement of James H. Bell, Mispillion River, Delaware Bay, January 

23, 1875. 

1. Oldwife, a corruption of alewife, is the name universally applied to 
the fish in this vicinity, and all along the western shore of Delaware Bay. 

2. They rank equal to if not more abundant than the sea trout, and 
far exceed the number of any other fish ; a thousand bushels of trout 
are sometimes taken at a haul; but the main fishing season does not 
last over a month, while menhaden are caught more or less during six 
months of the year. 

3. No diminution is noticeable ; the number seems to be about the 
same one year with another. 

4. These fish are not sought in this vicinity for any purpose whatever ; 
and when caught in seines laid for other fish by fishermen, are left on 
the beach to rot, or taken home and fed directly to hogs, or composted 
for fertilizing the soil, for which they are only valuable. 

5. Quantity taken from the water never seems to affect the supply. 

6. They are first seen here early in March, and continue to increase 
in number till about the 15th April, when the sea-trout frightens them 
off. They soon return in increasing numbers, however, till the middle or 
last of May, after which they begin to disappear in large schools until 
about the 1st August, when they again appear numerous, and continue 
so, if the weather is mild, until the latter part of September, when they 
begin to disappear. 

7. High ; by their capture at first, windy weather generally prevail- 
ing in March, renders the bay too rough for the ripple to be seen ; be- 
sides, they are not inclined to show themselves about the surface till 
the water becomes warm, as in August and September ; the fish-hawk 
and trout-gull follow closely in their wake, and destroy a great many. 

8. The opinion prevails, that after entering the bay they follow the 
main channel, spreading toward the shore on either side as they advance, 
until arrested by brackish water. The western shore of this bay is very 
shallow, the tide near the beach seldom rising above six or seven feet. 
When the tide is three-quarters flood, the fish run in close to land, and 
are caught within twenty yards of the beach ; as none are seen on the 
surface at such times, it is probable that they are then in pursuit of food; 
at slack-water to first quarter ebb, if it is calm, the water is spotted with 
the break or ripple ; and as the tide recedes they float out with it to 
deep water. 

9. Their appearance is as regular as the shad ; an old fisherman re- 
marked to me that he never knew it to fail, or a diminution in their 



UISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 455 

abundance for a single season; hence, no cause is assignable for a de- 
crease when none is known. 

10. No gill or haul seines frighten them if they are out of sight; but 
tvhen sunning on the surface, any noise close by sends the school out 
of sight in an instant, to reappear not ftir o&' ; if the object was to catch 
them, this is the most favorable time, and the purse-net is most likely to 
accomplish it. 

11. Inshore on the young flood to feed, and out to deep water again 
when the ebb is not lower than four feet. 

12. Sandy bottom predominates on this coast, and there is where most 
fish are found, although they are caught in numbers where the bottom 
is muddy. Some few fish are found considerable distances up the creeks 
at high water. 

13. Most fish are found in 10 to 15 feet of water, or deeper; they are 
also caught in large numbers in water as shallow as 6 feet; sometimes 
when it is not deeper than 4 feet. 

14. Not known, but am inclined to think they prefer warm water un- 
til arriving at full size. 

15. Medium and small fish are found together, not probably in the 
same schools, but close enough together for the seine to catch fish rang- 
ing in size from 9 inches down to 3 inches. 

16. Yes; immense quantities of them from about the 10th September 
to 1st October, in size from 3 inches up, and smaller ones, probably, but 
I have not seen any. 

17. Toward the latter part of September they gradually disappear. 

18. Eun out to the main bay-channel ; beyond that I have no knowl- 
edge. 

19. It is impossible for me to say with certainty, but I think near the 
Gulf Stream in the Atlantic Ocean, from the fact that this fish appears 
so partial to warm water. 

20. I have not the least doubt that their food is something similar to 
that of shad, such as minute animalcula found in muddy bottoms ; their 
digestion is evidently very rapid, as the contents of the stomach bear a 
nearer resemblance to black mud than to anything else. 

21. But for what took place about the 7th of last November on this 
coast I should hesitate to give any opinion in reply to this query. After 
the last menhaden had disappeared from these waters, and as late as the 
7th November, all at once from Cape May to Cape Henlopen, and up the 
bay 18 miles, to and above this station, the water was crowded with the 
largest size of this fish ever seen by any person on the coast, the largest 
being quite as big as medium-sized shad, extremely fat, and full three- 
fourths of them pregnant with large and nearly matured roe; the shores 
of the bay from Lewes up this far were lined with dead fish, bitten to 
death by bluefish. Some of the latter weighed 25 pounds. Numbers of 
dead fish were without tails, and all were more or less mutilated by the 
teeth of the bluefish, or snapping mackerel as it is called at Cape May. 



456 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

Whether they were exterminated by their enemy or driven back to the 
ocean is not known, but not one of tbem could be caught on the coast 
sixty hours after their arrival, and none have been seen since ; nor were 
they ever known here before so late in the season, or of such large size, 
or containing the fully-developed roe, or, in fact, any roe at all. Such 
fish are entirely new to these waters. I am of the opinion that the 
ocean is their spawning element, and being attacked while spawning by 
immense numbers of very large bluefish, they flee before it till reaching 
shallow water, then, if all were not killed, turn and escape to sea. These 
fish were remarkable for uniformity in size, being over a foot long and 
about one inch and a quarter thick through the back. A gentleman 
remarked to me that he thought none of us had ever seen any full-grown 
" oldwives" before. Ordinarily this fish is not marketable, but so anx- 
ious were the people after these large ones that $14 per barrel was ofl'ered 
for them salt. It seems to me that if spawning was the object of these 
fish they would have remained longer than two days and a half, and 
that some would have been caught in former years. From a critical ex- 
amination and comparison of these with those common to the coast I 
can find no difference except in size. Finally, as the spawn of these fish 
appeared matured, 1 am of the opinion that they spawn in the ocean, 
and in the month of November. (Since the visit of bluefish, rock and 
perch, usually quite plenty, have entirely disappeared.) 

22. Sexes are mixed. 

23. No. 

28. Yes, in thousands, near the shore from Cape Heulopen to above 
this river. It is a peculiarity of the young fish in a strong current to 
spring from the water, causing persons unacquainted with the habit to 
remark that " the water is alive with fish." So it is to a certain extent, 
but it is difficult at such times to find any other kind of fish in it. 

29. I saw a great many of the large fish handled, but in no instance 
did I see the spawn escape, nor do I think it ever occurs with this fish. 

30. I have no knowledge of the destruction of spawn, and do not 
believe the parent fish capable of devouring either spawn or young fish, 
but instead obtain their food from the mud. The worst enemy of young 
fish, by all odds, is the sea-trout. From one to three may be found in 
the stomach of almost every trout, and as trout remain here, more or 
less plentiful, till September, an immense number of young fish are de- 
stroyed. Bluefish is the next most destructive enemy. Other kinds of 
fish trouble them very little compared with the two above named. 

31. I have never examined the roof of the mouth, but have frequently 
noticed a little bug-like crab attached to the gills of medium sized fish. 
During August and September it is common to see a slender red worm 
or leech fast to the fishes' sides. The worm is largest at each end, is 
about one inch and a half long, and bears some resemblance to the 
angle-worm. As many as a dozen are found on some of the fish. Al- 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 457 

though the worm seems as frail as a strand of blood, it is strong enough 
not to break when its head is pulled away from the fish. 

32. The larger fish appear to suffer most from bluefish, although por- 
poise, shark, and the fish-hawk destroy a great many. 

33. None that I am aware of. 

34. Mostly in haul-seines, many in gill-seines, but in neither seine is 
menhaden the object. 

35. Seines are from 15 to 100 fathoms long, from 6 to 9 feet deep, and 
have 1-inch meshes. 

30. None. Four-oared boats are generally employed to lay out and 
draw the seine ashore. 

37. From eight to ten men are necessary to manage a boat and large 
seine. 

38. Flood and high tide ; sometimes on the ebb, but never at low 
water. 

39. Flood and high water are the most favorable times. 

40. The fish usually works against the wind if there is much of it. 
42. Some leave the fish on shore, others feed them to hogs, or compost 

them to enrich their land. 

58. I am confident, from observation, that catching large numbers of 
any kind offish in the spawning season will diminish them, but owing 
to this fish not spawning on this coast, I regard it next to impossible to 
decrease their numbers by any method of capture known to fishermen. 



58. Statement of Benjamin Tice, Maurice River Light, January 11, 1875. 

1. Known by the name of mossbunker or aldwives. >.. 

2. They are more abundant than any other kind. 

3. Increased in numbers, I believe. 

5. No establishment in this vicinity. 

6. They come on early in the spring, and are thickest in August. 

7. They swim high and make a ripple on the water. 

16. Young fish are seen in the months of August and September. 

17. Leave the coast late in the fall and by degrees. 
31. 1 have seen worms attached to the outside. 

32. They suffer from the attacljs of sharks, porpoises, &c. 



59. Statement of Joseph B. Benson, Bombay HooJc, Bel, January 18, 1875. 

1. Mossbunker, old-wives, bug-fish, and green tails. 

2. They are more i)lentiful than any other fish during July and August. 

3. It has not. 

4. There is no establishment on the west side of the bay. 

5. It does not. 



458 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

6. The last of April, July, and August they are about the same size. 
There are no certain intervals in the schools. 

7. At times the surface of the water is covered for long distances, and 
at other times they swim deep. They attract fishing-hawks, which live 
on them. 

8. They come on in the spring and leave in the fall. 

9. Tbey are certain to come, but if the season is very wet they are 
later. 

10. It does not. 

11. It does not make any difference. 

12. Near shore. 

14. They like it warm. 

15. They are all alike. 

16. In August and September there are large schools of them. 

17. In October, by degrees. 

18. By the capes. 

20. It is not known. 

21. Where the water is brackish. 

28. Some seasons they are abundant near the shore and at other sea- 
sons there are none. 

30. Rock. Taylor fish. 

31. There is a bug found in the roof of the mouth. 

32. They suffer to a very great extent. 

33. I have not noticed any. 

34. Gill-seines. 

35. One hundred to 150 fathoms. 

36. They are only caught for bait. 

38. Whenever convenient. 

39. No. 

40. No. 

41. There are none. 

42. They are often taken for manure. 

43. There are none. 

44. There is none made. 
58. It does not. 



60. Stateme7it of Hance Lawson, Crisfield^ Md., January 22, 1874, 

Not a report with reference to Atlantic coast. 

1. Alewife. 

2. Most abundant. 

3. Diminished. 

4. At Manokin factory 800 barrels of oil were made last year. At 
Tangier Island about the same or less. 

5. Yes. 

6. They are first seen about May 1. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 459 

7. They swim both high and low; when high, with their heads out. 

8. They come from the south, moving along slowly with the tides; 
up in the spring and down in the fall. 

9. There is sometimes a scarcity, but never a failure. 

10. They do scare them badly. 

11. They come into creeks with the flood and go out with the ebb ; 
sometimes, however, they come in at night. 

12. Generally deep water ; however, they sometimes work in-shore on 
the flood tide. 

13. A depth of 10 or 12 feet is preferred. They swim on the top of 
the water. 

14. Cold weather makes them torpid, 

15. Seldom, and the sizes go in separate schools. 

16. They are never seen on the coast, but are in the sounds, rivers, 
creeks, and bays. 

17. They begin to leave during the latter part of August, and the first 
to leave are the best ; some remain until the middle of October. 

18. By a southern route. 

20. They feed on a slimy substance which comes from the bottom ; it 
looks like a discoloration of the water, but is composed of vegetable or 
animal matter; the large bodies break into small ones at night and go 
near shore ; in the morniog they gather again and go out. 

21. At the heads of rivers and creeks, and near fresh water. They 
spawn in June and July. 

24. The water must be warm. 
26. I think they float. 

28. They are found in abundance in shoal water, where the fresh and 
salt water mingle. 

29. No. 

30. Bluefish and porpoises destroy them, but the parent fish do not. 

31. Crab-lice are found in the gills, and there is a five-pronged insect, 
which makes a sore, seen in the tail ; we call these insects grapliugs. 

32. They suffer greatly, but are very active; the bluefish is their 
worst enemy. 

33. Never knew of it. 

34. Haul-seines, purse-nets, gill-nets, and weirs. 

35. Haul-seines are 100 fathoms long and 8 feet deep ; nets are 200 
fathoms long, and from 18 to 20 feet deep. 

36. Barges are mostly employed, and vessels of from 10 to 20 tons 
burden. 

37. Twelve men for purse-nets and 25 for haul-seines ; one man for 
gill-nets. 

38. All hours of the day and night. Gilling is done at night. 

39. No, 

40. Yes ; it scatters and sends them down deep. 

41. Five vessels averaging about 15 tons, and 5 barges. 



460 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

42. They are made into oil and manure, and sold to farmers. 

43. Tangier belongs to Crockett & Co., Mauokinto Ford, Avery & 
Co. 

44. About 800 barrels at Ford's, and 500 at Tangier. 

46. The fish are boiled in large kettles at Tangier, but are crushed 
at Manokin. The Tangier and Manokiu factory cost each $2,500. 

47. Fifteen cents per bushel. 

48. About 1,000 fish, or from 4 to 4^ bushels. 

50. One quart, and is least in July. 

51. One and one-half gallons, and is greatest in August and Septem- 
ber. 

52. Yes, as much again. 

54. Philadelphia and other cities. 

55. Home. 

56. Used for lubricating purposes. 

57. From 40 to 60 cents. 

58. Yes. 



61. Statement of Isaac D. Bobbins, Hog Island, February 21, 1874. 

No efforts are made here to catch the mossbunker. We have them dur- 
ing the largest part of the year, from April to September, and sometimes 
in winter. I once saw many of these fish in Swangut Creek which had 
died from the efftcts of hot weather ; they were then about 2 inches 
long. In the fall we see them from 3 to 5 inches long. We make no 
use of these fish, but I have an impression that there are enough of 
them to make our laud very rich if they were made into manure. 

On the Chesapeake side of the peninsula I have known large quanti- 
ties of these fish caught, and a few years ago some gentlemen under- 
took to convert them into oil and manure, but to what extent they were 
successful I cannot say. 

The grown mossbunker is from 9 to 12 inches long, and generally 
very fat. 

62. Statement of J. L. Anderton, A^mteague Island, Virginia, January 12, 

1875. 

1. Alewives. 

2. They are more abundant than any others found in this vicinity. 

3. Increased. 

4. There is no establishment in this vicinity. 

5. It does not in this vicinity. 

6. First seem to come near the coast in April. The main body appear 
in June. The first are the smallest. 

7. They swim high, make a ripple on the water, and attract birds. 

8. They come from a southward direction. 

9. Their appearance is regular and certain. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 461 

10. No. 

11. They come nearer the shore on the flow of the tide and move off" 
on the ebb. 

12. On bars and in coves. 

13. Four and a half to five feet. They swim nearly to the top of the 
water. 

14. It does. 

15. They come before they are mature, and we find the one and two 
year old fish with the oldest. 

16. They are seen on the coast from April till June, from 4 to 10 inches 
in length. 

17. They leave in November by degrees. 

18. They go southward. 

19. Somewhere south, I think. 
26. I think they float. 

29. Yes. 

30. Don't think the parent fish devours them ; birds eat them. 

31. Lampreys are sometimes found attached on the outside. 

32. Quite considerable. 

33. I have not noticed any. 

• 34. None in this vicinity, except small gill-nets. 

42. There are but few caught in this vicinity. They are used on the 
spot. 



63. Statement of G. Eenry Seldon, Einsale, Westmoreland County, Vir- 

gitiia, August, 1874. 

1. Alewives. 

2. More abundant than any other fish. 

3. Diminished very much within the last ten years, particularly in 
the small rivers. 

4. From 5,600 to 6,000 barrels taken in 1873 by one establishment in 
this vicinity. This is about the average number of barrels taken each 
year. 

5. The capture has a tendency to affect their abundance. 

6. They appear in Chesapeake Bay about the 10th of March. The 
main body arrives about the 15th of April. The first fish are the largest. 
They come in quick succession. 

7. They appear in schools, but swim low. There is therefore no 
ripple seen, and their arrival is known only by their capture, and the 
attraction of birds. 

8. They come up the coast from the south ; their movements are very 
swift, passing to the headwaters of the bays and rivers, where they are 
seen to linger a short time to spawn ; then returning, they leave our 
coast and go to the coast of New England. 

9. They are never known to fail. 



462 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

10. They do not appear to be scared by seiues or nets any longer than 
they are in sight of them. 

11. Their migration is more on the ebb tide, as they stop on the flood 
tide to feed. 

12. In large bays and rivers where the bottom is soft. 

13. From three to eight fathoms of water. When the weather is cool 
they swim deep, but come near the surface at times ; these times can be 
ascertained by the birds striking them. When the weather is warm 
these fish are seen to swim with the tops of their heads out of the water. 

14. As the mercury sinks they swim deeper in the water. 

15. They seldom appear on their breeding grounds before matured. 
The one and two year old fish are not found among the oldest. 

16. The young fish are seen on the coast about the 1st of June, at 
which time they are about 4 inches long. 

17. They leave the coast generally in the latter part of October in a 
body. 

18. They leave the coast by the southern route going south of course. 

19. It is thought that they spend the winter in or beyond the Gulf 
Stream, where the water is warm. 

20. There is a sediment upon which they feed; this they purify by 
straining it through their gills. 

21. They spawn in the headwaters of our bays and rivers, generally 
in the month of April. 

22. In their migration movements they are mixed indiscriminately, as 
may be seen from the manner in which they are caught in the gill-nets • 
but when coming upon the breeding grounds, they are not huddled in 
schools, as may be seen afterwards. 

23. The milt of this fish does color the water. 

24. Cannot tell the exact temperature of water which is most fiivor- 
able for spawning, but I think when it is from 45° to 05° ; when the 
water is cold they spawn in the deep where the cold winds cannot chill 
the spawn ; when the weather is moderately cold, it does not destroy 
the spawn, but the young fish will not hatch as soon as when the water 
is of the right temperature. Where the water becomes heated by the 
burning rays of the sun the spawn is instantly destroyed. 

25. In from 4 to 10 feet of water ; the eggs lay on the bottom. Where 
it is soft, and j)roduces a little grass, it is all the better for the spawn. 

26. When the eggs are spawned they sink to the bottom, but become 
attached neither to stones, grass, nor any thing of the kind ; neither do 
they float until hatched, but lay on the bottom. 

27. In four or six days' time after the eggs are laid they begin to hatch 
out. It has been said that they hatch out in two days after they have 
been laid, but this is very seldom; however it is not impossible, but my 
own experience teaches me that to hatch them out in two days would 
require the tide, locality, and temperature of the water to be very favor- 
able. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 463 

28. The young of this fish are found in great abundance in the head- 
waters of our bays and rivers, generally near the shore. 

29. The spawn is never known to run from this fish while being han- 
dled after they are captured. 

30. The parent fish does not destroy the spawn, but other fish, such 
as the rock-bass and the pickerel destroy the spawn of this fish. 

31. The larapreys are often found attached to the outside of this fish. 
In their gills and roof of the mouth is found an insect as large as the 
end of a man's small finger and three-quarters of an inch long. This 
is the small size of this insect. 1 have seen them an inch and a quarter 
long. It is transparent and has a tail resembling that of a lobster ; and 
so great is the adhesive power of this insect, that you might attach one 
of them to your finger while it is alive and you could not throw it off. 
This insect is known to us as the fish-louse, because it attaches to the 
inside of the head of this fish ; they are known in many localities as the 
buggy-head fish. 

32. The bass, trout, bluefish, sharks, and the porpoises all feed upon 
this species of fish. 

33. No disease of any description has ever occurred among them, caus- 
ing deatU in any numbers worthy of notice in the past thirty years. 

34. Parse seines, gill-seines, haul-seines, fike-nets, and hedge-nets are 
all used in capturing these fish, and are generally used with great suc- 
cess. 

35. Seines for capturing this fish are from 50 to 406 fathoms long, from 
2 to 5 fathoms deep, and of a 2 or 2i inch mesh. The seines used at the 
oil factories are called purse-seines ; they are about 100 fathoms long 
and 500 deep. 

36. Small-size schooners and sloops, being from 6 to 20 tons burden. 

37. Two men to each vessel, except the tug, which has 5 men. 

38. Toward midday is the most successful period for catching these 
fish. 

39. They are taken in greater numbers on the ebb tide. 

40. They do not appear upon the surface of the water in windy as they 
do in moderate weather. 

41. Seven vessels are employed in this vicinity having crews of 15 or 
18 men, but the aggregate number of men at the factory and on board 
of the vessels is 45 or 50. 

42. The fish thus caught are taken to the factory and there boiled up 
for oil. 

43. The only factory in this neighborhood is the one at New Point 
Comfort, owned by Nickleson & Co., of Norfolk, Va. 

44. The average quantity of good oil produced by this one factory is 
about 300 barrels a year. 

48. One bushel. 

49. Probably 10 gallons. 

50. Probably 2^ gallons in the spring and summer. 



464 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONEE OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

51. Probably 3 gallons. The greatest quantity of oil is obtained in 
and after the mouth of September. 

52. Yes. 

64. New York. 

55. Virginia and North Carolina. 

50. For tanning leather, painting, machines, &c. 

58. Yes. 



64. Statement of Henry Bichardsoti, Gape Henry, February 9, 1874. 

1. The " alevvife," termed by some "bony fish." 

2. These fish are more numerous than any other fish that inhabit these 
waters. 

3. During the last four years (the length of time I have been in charge 
of this station) there seems to be no diminution in the numbers of these 
fish. 

6. These fish are caught as early as March, but the main body arrives 
about June and July. During these two mouths these fish are con- 
stantly passing the Virginia capes, entering 'the Chesapeake Bay. I 
have seen schools of these fish on calm days in the summer season, I 
should judge, about two miles long and perhaps one-fourth of a mile wide. 

7. These fish swim high, or near the surface of the water, and their 
approach can easily be seen by the commotion they make. They ripple 
the water and also ^fttract the attention of birds. 

8. They work in the spring of the year from south to north. I do not 
know their subsequent movements after their entrance into the Chesa- 
peake Bay. 

9. I have never known these fish to fail to enter these capes during 
any season. 

11. During the summer season they work in and out of the capes, 
working out with the ebb tide and working in again on the flood. 

13. They swim in shoal as well as in deep water, and create a con- 
stant flipping on the surface. 

14. In unusually cold weather they get benumbed, and sometimes 
wash on shore in great quantities. 

16. The young fish commence coming about June, and average, I 
should think, about five inches long. 

18. They follow the Atlantic coast and work south. 

19. I have been informed that they winter around the Bahama Banks 
and the West India Islands. 

20. Their flesh is very sweet early in spring and late in the fall of the 
year, but they are objectionable as food on account of the quantity of 
bones they possess. 

31. In the summer season they become wormy. These worms have 
the appearance of a fine piece of red string about one inch long. I have 
pulled them out of the side of the fish, and the root or end ot the worm 
in the flesh has the appearance of an eagle's claw. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 465 

34. A purse-net ; alfhough they are caught in large quantities fre- 
queutlj' in the summer season with long seines. These seines are used 
lor catching the more edible species of fish, and when "alewives" are 
caught by these seines they are left to rot on the shore. 

42. These fish are caught about the entrance of the capes or in Ches- 
apeake Bay, put on board of the small schooners employed in this busi- 
ness, and thence taken to the factories, where the oil of the fish is ex- 
tracted and the refuse manufactured into fish guano or fertilizer. 

43. At the present time there are no factories for the manufacture of 
fish-oil in this neighborhood. A factory for this purpose was in opera- 
tion some two years ago, but it has since been consumed by fire. 

58. There does not seem to be any diminution in the quantity of these 
fish, and thousands of bushels are annually destroyed on this coast by 
the seines used in catching the more edible fish that supply our markets. 
They might be used to good advantage in manuring the land in the 
surrounding country, but the difticulty of transporting them to lands 
used for agricultural purposes is so great that they are left on the beach 
to rot. 



65. Statement of G. G. Manning^ Edenton, N. C, January 6, 1875. 

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your circular-letter 
under date of December 23, 1874, making inquiries relative to the fish 
known in our vicinity as fat-back or bug-fish, and in reply thereto I 
would state I have conversed with several of the leading fishermen on 
the Albemarle Sound and its tributaries, and they report very few of 
that class of fish caught during fishing season. Those which are caught 
are disposed of by being thrown in with the ofial or refuse fish, after- 
ward used upon their lands in a raw state as fertilizers. 

The fishermen attribute the scarcity of that species of fish in the upper 
part of the sound to the freshness of the water. I have been unable to 
obtain any information from the lower part of the sound, where the 
water is brackish or salt. 

1. Bug-fish. 

2. They are very scarce. 

3. Diminished. 



66. Statement of A. W. Simpson, jr., Cape Eatteras, N. C, April 15, 1874.* 

1. Fatback. 

2. It is not found throughout the year. It makes its appearance in 
June and leaves in December. 

3. It is not resident. 

*The numbers of this coiumunication refer to the general circular published in the 
first volume of the report of the Commissioner. 

30 F 



466 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

4. It is more abundant than any other fish that frequent the waters 
of North Carolina, say 5 to 3. 

5. They have increased in abundance within the last ten years. 

6. The supposed cause is that their enemies are not so numerous. 

. 7. The amount or extent of the change in abundance cannot be ascer- 
tained. 

8. The greatest length to which this fish attains is about 16 inches. 

9. The rate of growth per annum, &c., is not known by any one in the 
community, no attention being paid to it. 

10. The sexes differ somewhat in shape and size ; the male is as long 
but not so large as the female. 

11. These fish generally come in to the shore on the northern coast, 
and run along the beach south, running into the different inlets. In the 
first of the season they may be seen, in moderate weather, five or six 
miles at sea in large schools, half a mile long and all along the coast, 
lying apparently at ease floating upon the surface of the water. This 
habit they indulge in until the latter part of October, when the bluefish 
or taylor arrives ; then they seek protection in the surf near the beach, 
and are washed ashore by thousands. I might be safe in saying hun- 
dreds of thousands are washed ashore in one night or during one flood- 
tide. 

12. They continue to run south, or rather are driven by the taylors 
until December, after which only a very few are seen in the sound. 

13. It is unknown to any one here where they spend the winter season. 

14. The fish come near the shore upon their first arrival on the coast, 
but the main body does not come in until driven in by the taylors and 
dogfish about the first of November. The first are generally the small- 
est. I think they are continually on the coast Irom the time of their 
arrival to the time of their departure; but sometimes they are seen in 
larger quantities than others, say once to twice a week. 

15. In some seasons the fish leave the shore in a body, and at differ- 
ent times during the season ; but when they leave the coast for the 
south they go by degrees, commencing about the first of December. 

10. The appearance of these fish in the sound, and at sea off the 
coast, is certain every season ; but they only come near the seabeach 
when driven in by the taylor and dogfish. 

17. The runs do not differ, except in quantity. Some seasons the runs 
are very large in October; but in November they are not so plentiful, 
and vice versa. 

18. As far as my knowledge extends, both sexes come in together. 
The spawn is about two-thirds developed when they first arrive. 

19. These fish never take the hook. 

20. These fish never take the hook. 

21. The schools of fish swim high in moderate weather, but in high 
winds and rough seas they run in deep water. Their arrival is some- 
times known by the schools which are seen at sea, lying at ease appa- 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 467 

rently, with a continual flipping motion with the tail above water; this 
attracts thousands of birds. 

22. They generally come on the beach on flood and drop off on ebb 
tide ; they also run into inlets on the flood. 

23. Spawn is sometimes seen when the fish are handled to any great 
extent. 

24. The spawn is also seen around set-nets, when the fish force them- 
selves through the meshes. 

25. The fish are anadromous ; they run up the fresh-water rivers for 
the purpose of spawning, and to " suck " (eat) the scum generally 
brought down by freshets. 

26. They sometimes make several trips up the rivers, and returns 
in the sound, before going up to spawn ; this is attributed to the num- 
ber of freshets during a season. Some seasons they make no stay in 
the sounds, but go right up the rivers on their first arrival, and con- 
tinue these visits until December. 

27. See answer to question 26. 

28. There is no difference in this respect as to sex or age known to 
me. 

29. The young fish are generally mixed up with the old ones when in 
large bodies or schools ; but, as a general rule, the young are seen along 
the shores of rivers and sounds. 

30. The favorite localities of these fish are varied as in other cases. 
In moderate weather they float high, in fact upon the very surface of 
the water, and feed upon the scum or mud which are afloat. They 
then select some place near a lead or tide way, but often shelter them- 
selves behind a shoal or breaker where the current eddies ; but in windy 
and rough weather they are constantly running. 

31. They generally prefer the deepest water to school, as stated in 
answer 21. 

32. There has been no difference observed, by me at least, as (o the 
favorite temperature of the water, but they are more abundant when 
inside the sound in thick, milky-colored water. 

33. These fish are not seen in schools after they are done spawning ; 
but the general opinion is they are in schools when leaving the sounds 
and rivers, judging from the quantity taken or caught in set nets of a 
night. They are not seen at all in moderate weather, as described in 
answer 21. 

34. They have no special friends ; but the porpoise, the shark, the 
dogfish, and the taylor are special enemies of the old, and the crab, the 
eel, the i^erch, trout, and several other species of fish, of the young fish. 

35. The fatback do not prey upon or eat any other species of fish 
during their stay in this section. 

36. They suffer to a great extent from the attacks of other fish, but 
the amount is not exactly known. I think, however, I would be per- 
fectly safe in saying that at least half are destroyed. 



468 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

37. The nature of their food is mud from the fresh-water rivers, scum, 
&c., afloat on the water, and marine insects, which are found along 
shore and on the reefs in the sounds and rivers. 

38. There are no special peculiarities in the manner of feeding these 
fish known, no attention having been paid to that particular. 

39. Nor is it known what amount of food they consume. When taken, 
the stomach or pouch is generally full of mud, and they are very fat 
until they have spawned. 

40. The sexes differ somewhat in color and shape during the breeding 
season, the male being of a pale-yellow and the female a bright-yellow 
color in respect to their fins and tails. The male is equally as long, but 
of a more straight shape. The edges of the females are generally 
tinted with bright-yellow specks. 

41. There are no special or unusual habits of these fish during the 
spawning season known to me. 

42. Lines and nets interfere somewhat with their progress up the 
rivers, but aside from this spawning is not interfered with to any great 

'extent-by lines and nets. 

46. According to my views, from their movements and not from act- 
ual knowledge, these fish deposit their spawn in the beds of the princi- 
pal rivers — the Neuse, Tar, and Roanoke — about the last of November. 

47. I can give no account of their process, &c. 

48. The water is sometimes whitened by the milt and spawn. 

49. They generally select the warmest places for spawning, but the 
exact temperature is not known ; it varies from one to ten degrees, owing 
to the weather. 

50. The eggs are laid in two to three fathoms of water, and supposed 
to lie on the bottom. 

51. The spawn is of the size of a mustard-seed, and of a light-red 
color. 

52. The number for each fish has not been ascertained. 

53. Either for one season or for lifetime. 

54. The eggs when spawned sink to the bottom, but whether they 
become attached to stones, grass, &c., I do not know. 

55. It is unknown whether the fish heap up or construct any kind of 
nests of sand, gravel, or grass. 

57. It is not known by any one on the coast when the eggs are 
hatched or in what period after they are laid. 

62. They are never seen carrying them in their mouths or otherwise. 

63. The crab, eel, perch, trout, and several other species of fish de- 
stroy the spawn and the young fish. The parent fish never interferes 
with either. 

64. The young of this fish are found in great abundance on the shores 
of rivers and sounds. 

65. They appear to feed the same as the old ones, as described in an- 
swer 37. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 469 

66. No steps have been taken to increase the abundance of this fish 
by artificial culture. 

67. These fish have no protection from any source. 

68. No epidemic or other disease has ever been noticed among them 
on the coast. 

69. If such has ever taken place, the time and cause are unknown. 

70. Worms and lampreys are found in the gills and about the fins of 
these fish. 

71. The fish are caught in nets. 

72. For ordinary purposes in set-nets of from 50 to CO yards long, 1^ 
to If inch mesh, and from 20 to 30 meshes deep. These nets are gen. 
erally set at night with both ends made fast, and remain in the water 
during the entire night, so the fish are caught in the night-time. But 
when they are caught for the purpose of manufacturing into oil and 
manure, they are hauled ashore at the inlet and on the sea-beach with 
large seines, or taken with purse-nets. This latter performance can be 
done more effectually in moderate weather when the fish are in schools. 

73. 74. It may be taken in nets from the 1st of October to the 1st of 
December. They are never taken with hook. 

75. One good seine, of proper size to suit the depth of water, might 
haul ashore in a day at least 100 barrels of fish along the beach. This 
is only at times when the tailors drive them in to the beach. In some 
seasons we might get ten, in others not more than two, good days' fish- 
ing. 

76. A pursenet will take of a good day 15 to 20 barrels, while a set 
net only 4 to 5 in a night. 

77. It is caught more on flood-tide than on ebb, for they go off shore 
on ebb-tide. 

78. The fish caught are used on the apot, except occasionally some 
are taken at sea in purse-nets by vessels connected with some oil-factory 
on the northern coast. 

79. It is an excellent food, fresh or canned and smoked. 

80. It sustains its excellence as a fresh fish only a short time, owing 
to the temperature of the weather. 

81. It is eaten to a great extent by the fishermen and others along the 
coast. 

8J. It is salted down in quantities only to save from one season to 
another. 

S3. It has been used for oil and manure to some extent, but there is 
no establishment of this kind on the coast at present. 

84. These fish are not carried to market in any abundance, but when 
any are sold they are worth from $8 to $10 per thousand. The prices 
vary according to the quantity of fish in market. 

85. These fish have never been exported from North Carolina. 

86. The principal market of the I'atback is in country places among 
farmers and freedmen. 



470 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

67. ^Statement of A. W. Simpson, jr., Cape Raiteras, N. C, January 20, 

1875. 

During the past season the fishermen provided themselves with seines 
and boats in time to meet the first run of the bluefish. The seines 
were made of cotton marlin, and were about 100 yards long, 2Aiuch 
mesh, and from 40 to 50 meshes deep. The bluefish made their first 
appearance on the coast from the north. The menhaden passed about 
three days in advance of the bluefish. I do not think I ever saw so 
many of this species at any one other time or in any one other season. 
From the balcony of the light-house at least twenty-five schools might 
have been seen lying along the coast, both north and south of the 
cape. Each school seemed to cover many hundred yards of surface 
and to be moving south at the rate of from four to five miles au 
hour. This continued, and school after school followed, for ten days 
before the .appearance of the hlue-fish, and when the blue-fish did 
appear there seemed to be more of the menhaden with them than 
had passed the station during the three previous days. Hundreds 
of barrels, I think, were washed ashore, and were driven so close by 
the bluefish that they had not the power to resist the surf, which 
was quite rough and heavy, and they were consequently thrown 
ashore upon the beach. Only a very small quantity of these fish were 
saved, as the fishermen gave their attention more particularly to the 
bluefish ; but some of them were saved and salted down, when they 
were sold to a good advantage. Some sold as high, in trade, as to 
bring ten bushels of corn, equal to $7 in currency, for one common 
fish-barrel of the menhaden. It has been generally thought by old, 
experienced fishermen here that the bluefish drive the fatback south 
in winter ; but I have learned difiereutly during the past season from 
personal observation, which the following fact strongly attests. The 
menhaden came three days in advance of the bluefish, and entered the 
sound at all the principal inlets, and made their way directly for the 
fresh-water rivers. They could be seen as numerous in the sound, head- 
ing north, as they were in the sea heading south. Furthermore, by a 
letter from a gentleman of Plymouth, N. 0., I hear that they passed 
that i^lace, eight miles above the mouth of the lioanoke, in five days 
after passing this station, and by another letter, from Windsor, 38 
to 40 miles above the entrance, I hear that they arrived there as 
early as the 18th of December. Thus it may be readily seen that the 
bluefish are not the cause of the fatback coming south. I would sooner 
think that the fatback caused the bluefish to come south in winter, 
as they generally follow in the run and among the last of the run of 
the fatback. 

Last year there were not so many of the menhaden, but there were 
millions of young spat — about two years old ; however, this winter there 
was not a spat to be seen, but the gray trout came instead. These, 
too, were washed ashore in great numbers. 1 feel safe in saying that if 



HISTOEY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 471 

the J3shermen had provided themselves with material for savinj? menha- 
den and trout, there might have been double the sum realized that there 
was by bluefish, although there were very many bluefish caught. There 
were engaged on the coast of Dare County twenty hve to thirty boats, 
each boat containing one seine and three men ; these were scattered 
promiscuously along the coast, and, I think, from a rough calculation 
made since I wrote you last upon the subject, that the catch for the 
season averaged about two thousand to each boat and crew ; making in 
all over fifty thousand bluefish. These fish sold for from fifteen to as 
high as fifty cents each. I have not heard of any being sold for less 
than fifteen cents cash. Many of them were traded off for corn, flour, 
and such other articles as this place does not produce. I think that 
there will be very extensive preparation made for this business next 
winter, and also for the menhaden. There is no needs of making any 
preparation for catching the menhaden; more will be driven ashore than 
can be saved. 



68. Statement of A. W. Smpson., jr.. Cape Hatteras, N. C, January 25, 

1875. 

1. Fat-back. 

2. Heretofore only about one-third more abundant than any other 
species, but I have seen twice as many fat-back during the fishing sea- 
son of 1873 as I ever saw of any other species on our coast. 

3. It has increased. 

4. Only about fifty barrels. 

5. Neither capture nor the destruction of the fish on the coast by the 
bluefish seem to affect their abundance. 

6. There are generally two runs ; in other words, the fat-back comes 
south in spring, and some are seen in the so.undsand rivers all the year; 
but when they come south for the purpose of spawning, they come some- 
times in ]Sovember and at others in December. In 1673, they were first 
seen on the coast about the 6th of December, and the main body arrived 
about the 10th of December. I did not notice any difference in the size 
of the fish in the different runs. There are generally more schools than 
one; many schools may be seen atone time. They seldom come near 
the coast in high winds and rough seas, but when they do, they swim so 
low that they are not seen from land. 

7. The schools of fish swim high in moderate weather, and low in high 
winds and rough seas. Their arrival is generally known by the birds 
and by the ripple they make on the water. They are a great attraction 
for birds. 

8. I do not know by what route they come into the coast north of this 
place; they come down along the coast from the north, enter the sounds 
at the principal inlets, and go up the rivers at once; they generally go 
from four to five miles an hour. 

9. The appearance of this fish on our coast is certain, and they are 



472 EEPOET OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

about the same as to abundance every year, when the spring run comes 
in ; but the fall and winter run varies somewhat; some seasons not half 
BO many are seen as at others. I do not know of any real cause for this 
difference. 

10. Ouly for a short time; they will return to their feeding-ground in 
less than two hours after having been scared away by a net. 

11. In winter I do not think the ebb and flow of the tide affect their 
movements any more than they choose to run against the tide. More 
of them enter the sounds from sea on ebb than flood tide. In spring and 
summer they frequent deep water on the ebb and shallow water on the 
flood tide. 

12. During spring and summer they feed in muddy slues and chan- 
nels on the ebb and grassy reefs and shoals on flood tide ; in moderate 
weather, during the day and at night, they seem to drift up aud down 
the channels and sounds with the tide, either ebb or flow, and in high 
■winds they are continually running. 

13. They do not seem to be particular about the depth of water, as 
some at their feeding-ground are in deep channels aud others are in 
shallow slues. They swim on the top of the water in moderate and near 
the bottom in stormy weather. 

14. They prefer the warmest water. 

15. From what I have been able to learn they do not come on the 
breeding-ground before they are mature. Some small fish are seen in 
large schools, but not as a rule; the one and two jears old school are by 
themselves. 

16. The young fish are seen in the sounds, creeks, and rivers all the 
summer, from one to three inches long. I remember, one day during 
last August, twenty-five miles above New Berne, I could see 50 schools 
at once, from one to three inches long, and I noticed they were more 
numerous nearer the mouth of the river; these come down on tbe coast, 
aud feed along the shores of the sounds and in the creeks until they 
are large enough to go to sea. 

17. I think they have various ways for leaving the coast; some sea- 
sons they may be seen going to sea iu large schools, and at other times 
they go off gradually. They leave by two runs; those that come in 
November or December leave about the middle of January, and the 
spring run leaves iu October. 

18. They return north by the same route they came south. 

19. They spend a part of the winter iu our principal fresh-water rivers, 
and in the sounds and creeks; where they go after going to sea I do not 
know. 

20. Mud and scum from the surface of the water aud insects which 
they find among the sea weed or grass is their principal food. 

21. These fish spawn in tbe Neuse, Pamlico, and Eoauoke liivers some 
time during the month of January. 

22. From what I can learn they are mixed indiscriminately. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 473 

23. The water is colored to some extent ; it being already of a milky 
color, it is hard to ascertain; but it is colored some by the milt of the 
male. 

24. I do not know the exact temperature. 

25. The eggs are laid on the margin of the river, generally in from 6 
inches to 2 feet depth of water. 

26. The eggs float about the river ; some of them are even seen to 
drift ashore, when the water falls away, leaving them dry ; this destroys 
them. 

- 28. The young are found is great abundance in the rivers, sounds, and 
creeks. 

29. Fishermen on the rivers say that the spawn runs from the fish when 
handled after having been in fresh water two to three days ; but it never 
happens while they are in salt water. 

31. Lampreys are sometimes found attached to the gills, and a kind 
of a bug in the roof of the mouth ; but I never heard of crabs being 
attached to them. 

32. Tbey must suffer to a great extent from the attacks of the blueflsh, 
shark, and porpoise. I noticed that each blueflsh caught on the coast 
this season had from one to three fatbacks in the stomach, showing that 
many thousands, and I might say millions, are destroyed by the blueflsh 
alone. 

33. I have never known of any epidemic among the fatback. 

34. Drag-nets at the sounds, and set-nets at the rivers. These are 
made of gill-twine, No. 25 or 30, and cotton warp spun into cord. 

35. The drag-net is from 75 to 100 yards long, having a mesh of from 
IJ to 2 inches, and from 25 to 35 meshes deep. The lower or lead line 
is kept on the bottom by sinkers made of lead for the purpose ; and the 
upper or cork line is kept on the surface of the water by floats made of 
dry gum-root made for the purpose. The set-net is made of gill twine, 
of from 35 to 45 yards long, and from 18 to 20 meshes deep, the mesh 
being from li to 2 inches. A coarse selvage made of cotton twine, 
dipped in tar and then dragged or rolled in coarse pebbly sand, answers 
the purpose of lead sinkers. A cork line buoyed with gum-root corks 
keeps the net oft the bottom. These are called fly-tale nets. They are 
placed in the water on the feeding ground in the evening, and allowed 
to remain all night. 

36. Canoes (not tonnaged) are used ; some of them are only IG feet 
long by 31 feet wide, while others are 30 by 7. 

37. Two men are sufficient to manage the small canoe, and three the 
larger ones. 

38. Both day and night flowing water is preferred. 

39. They are taken more plentifully in the flood-tide. 

40. Moderate weather is preferred for flshing with the drag-net, and 
high winds for the set-net ; as they are leedina: in moderate and running 
in windy weather. 



474 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

41. There are no particular number employed in catching thefatback, 
as that is not made a specialty. Thetishermeu in this vicinity have nets 
to suit, and look after all kinds of fish. About 200 boats are employed 
in tlie two townships adjacent to this station, with an aggregate num- 
ber of men amounting to about 500. 

42. Some of the iisli caught during winter are used on the spot, and 
some are carried to the country towns, villages, and farming districts 
and sold, while those caught in summer are used for manure. 

43. There are no oil-factories here. 

47. Seven dollars per barrel was paid for menhaden in lb73. I have 
no account of previous years. 

58. The catch does not appear to diminish them. 



69. Statement of Wallace B. Jennett, Cape Hatteras, N., G. February 26, 

1874. 

1. Menhaden and Fatback. 

2. They are more abundant and less cared for than any of the finny- 
tribe. 

3. They are not so abundant as ten years previous. 

6. They arrive in October and November principally, and may be 
found to be larger at the time of their departure. 

7. The fish generally are seen upon the surface of the water so as to 
attract birds. 

8. They come from the north, caused by the prevailing winds at that 
season of the year. 

9. Yes. 

10. They seem nowise sly, and are very regularly driven from the 
regular course. 

11. On the ebb and flood alike; they are seen to float without any- 
material difference, having no particular favorite locality. 

13. They prefer deep water, and are, so far as we can see, not affected 
by the temperature. 

15. The fish on their arrival seem to be of the same age and size, no 
young fish are seen at all. 

17. They leave in the early spring and go south. 

20. Sediment and mud from the water and fine grasses. 

22. The fish seem to mix indiscriminately ; the sex is hardly to be 
observed at any time ; it is not likely that they spawn on this coast at any- 
time. 

23. The water very rarely changes its color among the fish, con- 
sequently no milt is discharged. 

28. There are no young fish found in this locality. 

29. The spawn is never seen to run from the fish as from the shad, 
rock, perch, and others. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 475 

31. Crabs, lice, and other living animals are found attached to them 
at times in the gills and on the backs. 

32. They fall an easy prey to sharks, bluefish, and porpoises; thou- 
sands are thus destroyed, furnishing food for other fishes that may fol- 
low in their track, such as drums, trout, &c. 

33. Epidemics and distempers are very rare, but are sometimes prev- 
alent ; at which time they have drifted ashore in such abundance that the 
stench has been fearful. 

34. They are caught and taken with immense purse-nets, made of 
cotton twine, 200 fathoms long by 25 to 30 feet deep. 

36. Sloops or cat-boats are used to carry seines and men, at least 3 or 
4 in number, with an aggregate of 25 men. 
38. The entire day is often used in catching these fish. 

40. The wind at all times seems to affect them, as they are seen fre- 
quently running before it, and in quick motion. 

41. At the present time there are no arrangements made to capture 
the fatback. The business has not seemed to pay, for want of trans- 
portation. 

42. The fish when caught were used on the spot. The oil was pressed 
from them by hydraulic press, and the refuse was used as fertilizer. 

58. It is probable that the fish caught does tend to diminish their num- 
bers and quantity. 



70. Statement of A. C. Davis, Beanfort, N. C, February 14, 1874, and 

January 27, 1875. 

1. Fatback. 

2. More abundant than any other species. 

3. Increased. 

4. No establishment in 1873 ; cannot state for other years. 

5. Does not. 

6. In June; main body arrives in July; increase in size after arrival, 
and are largest in October. Schools are constantly coming in (in the 
season) at short intervals. 

7. Swim on the surface except when disturbed ; they thien sink, and 
in a short time reapitear. Arrival is known only by their appearance in 
schools on the surface of the water. This latter, perhaps, may arise 
from the fact that about the time of their first appearance no fishing is 
carried on by nets ; it is, however, generally considered that their arrival 
is first known as stated. They make a distinct ripple on the water, and 
are easily known from other fish. They attract birds, &c. 

8. Southward, ascend the rivers, drift in schools up and down with 
the ebb and flood tides. 

9. Eegular and certain; they have never failed; seem to return in 
greater abundance ; perhaps this is due to the fact that only a small 
quantity have been captured yearly in this locality. 

10. Are taken by nets, &c.j inside the inlets ; are easily taken. The 



476 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

use of nets does not scare them further from the shore, but the rivers 
are not very wide. 

11. Always swim or drift with the tide. 

12. In the channels of the rivers. 

13. The deepest ; when attacked they swim near the bottom. 

14. Are not seen after October, or, say, early in November. 

15. Do not breed here ; they arrive here one-fourth to one-half grown; 
neither two-year old fish nor the oldest arrive at their first appearance. 

16. Not less in size than named in 15. 

17. Main bodies in October and early in November, by degrees. 

18. Proceed south. 

19. Southward. 

20. Having no teeth, they feed off the slime, scum, &c., on the surface 
of the river. 

21. Further south; cannot say where. I have given this matter some 
attention, and from what I consider the best information they spawn at 
sea, not in the rivers, early in the spring. 

22. No. On their appearance in the rivers the sexes are mixed indis- 
criminately. 

23. Is colored late in the season, but is only noticed at the time of the 
" catch " or '' take." 

28. Not in this locality. 

29. Has been found to run in a late catch. 

31. Not. 

32. Severely from sharks, slightly from porpoises, late in the season ; 
when at the inlets they are attacked by blueflsh. 

33. Never has. 

34. Cotton and gill twine nets, after being partially worn in taking 
other fish, are unfit for further use after the first season ; slime, &c., 
rot them. 

35. Generally 50 fathoms in length ; 50 to GO meshes, of 1^ inches to 
If inches per mesh, deep. 

36. Open boats and canoes only, carrying from 10 to 25 barrels, are 
used in this locality. 

37. Two (2) men to each canoe and net. In making what is called a 
drop or haul, 4 to 6 nets are used. The school is surrounded, the fish 
are meshed in the net, shaken from the nets into the boat or taken out 
of the meshes by hand. The fish are never hauled to the beach. 

38. One haul generally loads the canoe; two loads can be made in one 
day ; the time occupied for each load is from 2 to 4 hours. 

39. More on the ebb. 

40. Are more numerous in moderate weather with southerly winds. 

41. Only boats and canoes, as named in 36. Very few were engaged 
in the business, though enormous quantities of the fish were present in 
the rivers, during this last season. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 4V7 

42. At this time only, for agricultural purposes on the spot. None are 
sent abroad. 

43. None. 

47. Fifty (50) per barrel of 3J bushels. In previous years, GO to 65. 

50. Three-fourths gallon to 1 gallon at the first run in June. 

51. Four gallons to 5 gallons in October and early in November. 

52. Are one-fourth larger and yield more. 

53. Three manufactories have been established (several years since) ; 
but all have suspended operations. 

55. Scrap was sold principally at Baltimore and other northern points. 

56. Is excellent for mixing with tar, ochre, &c., for painting roofs of 
houses, also water craft. It is also valuable in applying to cattle, hogs, 
&c., for the extermination of vermin. 

57. In previous years 75 cents per gallon. 

58. Does not. 



71. Statement of W. T. ffatsel, Body^s Island ^., C, March 4, 1874, and 

February 23, 1875. 

1. Fatback. 

2. There are three times as many. 

3. Neither diminished nor increased (diminished 1875). 

4. Fifty thousand barrels in 1868; Excelsior Works at Ocracoke Inlet; 
Adams & Co,, Beaufort, N. C; and Church & Co. 

5. No. 

6. There are two main bodies; one in the spring (April), another in 
the autumn (October). 

7. They swim high and make a ripple, which attracts birds. 

8. North and south. 

9. Sometimes they fail for a season. 

10. No. 

11. They scatter at the flood. 

12. Around inlets near the shore. 

16. Yes, between first and last ; approach 3 inches long. 

17. In very cold weather. 

18. Southward. 

19. Somewhere south. 

20. They live by suction. 

21. In the sounds. 

23. Yes, it is colored white. 
26. They are supposed to sink. 

29. Sometimes. 

30. Sharks, porpoises, and bluefish. If the parent devours them it 
must be done when quite young, or at spawn-time. 

31. Worms are found in the gills and outside j lampreys are also found 
outside. 

32. They suffer very much. 



478 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

33. What the nature of the epidemic is, I cannot say; I Lave known 
them to die to some extent. 

34. Purse-seines. 

35. Five hundred yards long and 50 deep. 
30. Cat-boats of 6 tons. 

37. Seven men. 

40. They move against the wind. 

41. I believe there are none in the State. 

42. Used for oil and scrap; the oil is sent to New York, the scrap to 
Baltimore. 

43. There are now none. 

46. The Excelsior Company's cost $30,000; Church & Company's cost 
$5,000; Adams & Company's cost $5,000. 

47. Twenty-five cents. 

48. One barrel of fish produces 1^ gallons of oil. 

49. Seventy-five gallons. 
52. Yes. 

54. New York. 

55. Baltimore, Md. 

56. For tanning purposes. 

58. Does not perceptibly (1874). Yes (1875). 



72. Statement of W. A. Ham, Morris Island, S. C, January 21, 1875. 

In reply to circular dated December 20, 1873, requesting information 
of fisheries and the habits of fish on this coast, I would say that there 
are no fisheries near this station, and the only fish that are caught here 
are the whiting, trout, and sheephead, and those in very small num- 
bers. 



73. Statement of Patricic Conner, Baufuslde Island Light, 8. C, March 

15,1875. 

1. Mossbuuker, or bony shad. 

2. There are five hundred thousand per cent, more than any other. 

3. It has increased. 

4. None. 

5. There is no capture of them to have any eflFect. 

0. In May. The main body come in June; they afe; there are. 

7. They swim high, make a ripple, and attract birds. 

8. I know not their route; they come into the sound and go out with 
the tide. 

9. It is. I never knew them to fail. 

10. I cannot say. I never saw them caught. 

11. They come in with the flood and go out with the ebb. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 479 

12. The bayous along the coast 

13. I do not know. I have seen them in all depths, from 3 feet to 6 
fathoms. 

14. It does. They never come before it gets warm in May. 

15. They do; yes, but generally they go in schools according to size. 

16. They are, in July and August, about IJ inches long. 

17. They leave in September; in schools and by degrees. 

20. Some sort of insects, or it may be their own eggs; they are con- 
stantly sucking in the tide. 

28. They are in all the bayous along the southern coast. 

?0. I cannot say what enemies the spawn has; but shark and blue- 
fish destroy the young. 

31. There is a bug, with several feet or legs, found outside on the 
cheek. 

32. They suffer heavily ; but, on account of their very great numbers, 
are scarcely i)erceptibly diminished. 

33. I do not know of any. 

34. No kind. These fish are never captured. 

35. There are none used. 

36. No vessels employed of any tonnage. 

40. High winds do; the small ones are cast ashore in rough weather. 

41. None. 

44. None. 

45. None. 

47. None bought or sold. 

53. It has no history. There is none manufactured. 

54. There is no market, for there is no oil. 

55. There is no market; there is uo scrap. 
58. 1 cannot say ; they are never caught. 



74. Statement of George Gage, Beavfort, S. C, January 20, 1874. 

Eeferring to your circular of December 20, 1873, relative to the " men- 
haden fisheries," &c., I have to report that I have no evidence of the 
existence in this district of either of the species of fish therein referred 
to. There is no fishing here in a commercial or statistical sense. 



75. Statements of Joseph Skepard, Saint Marifs, Ga., March 30, 1874, and 

January 28, 1875. 

I have the honor to state, relative to the species of fish known as the 
mossbuuker, that after making inquiries of men who have made a busi- 
ness of fishing on the coast of Georgia and South Carolina, and who 
have fished for the mossbunker farther north, that none of that species 



480 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

are found south of Cape Hatteras. I may meution that only one in- 
stance of the mossbunker being taken here has come under ray observa- 
tion. 

2. Other fish are abundant here, but have diminished in numbers 
within the past twenty years, and I desire to respectfully call your 
attention to the probable cause. It is a well-known fact that brook 
trout will not remain in creeks below lumber-mills if the sawdust is 
thrown into them, for the sawdust, it is supposed, gets into their gills. 
The same reason would account for fish of all kinds being less plentiful 
now along the coast of Georgia than heretofore, as there is an immense 
amount of lumber sawed ; and in most cases the sawdust is put in the 
water. 

17. In November, north of ITatteras, in a body. 

18. Supposed to go east to the Gulf Stream. 

19. Possibly along the edge of the Gulf Stream. 

20. Probably animalculoe, as their mouth seems formed for straining 
water. 

34. For other fish, cast-nets are used. 

35. Length, 6 feet; spread, 12 feet. 

I beg to be allowed to add that a species of shell-fish called prawn 
(or shrimp of large growth) is very abundant on this coast during the 
months of March, April, and May. The length of body, after the out- 
side shell is taken off, is from 4 to 6 inches. They are considered a great 
delicacy, and may be canned by a very simple process and made an 
article of commerce. 

There is also a small fish found here in great abundance at all seasons 
of the year, called finger -111111161, a very sweet fish. There is reason to 
believe that this fish would rival the sardine if canned in the same or a 
similar manner. Its length is from> 5 to 6 inches. 

Saint Mary's, Ga., January 28, 1875. 
Sir : I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your circular of 
the 23d ultimo, relative to statistics of fisheries, and to reply that since 
my last communication I have learned from one of the Saint Andrew's, 
Ga., bar pilots that schools of fish called menhaden come into that sound 
with the flood-tide and go out with the ebb from the mouth of April un- 
til October, but not in as great numbers as found at the North. The 
same fish are also seen in calm weather during the winter months out- 
side the sea islands in about seven fathoms of water in large schools 
from 3 to 4 feet below the surface. My informant says he has caught 
them at such times with snatch-hooks. 

Very respectfullv, 

JOSEPH SHEPAED. 
Hon. Spencer F. Baird, 

Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries, Washington, D. C 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 481 

76. Statement of J. F. Eall, BrunsivicJc, Ga., April 11, 1876. 

First. Tbey do not frequent the coast in this latitude. 

Second. There have been a few schoo^ls seen off this coast. One was 
in Saint Andrew's Sound, latitude 31° 3', in the spring of 1871. I saw 
one myself on May 30, 1872, latitude 31° 15', in about eight fathoms of 
water. One school was reported off the coast by pilots in the summer 
of 1874. 



77. Statement of Capt. David Kemps, Neic Berlin^ Fla., Fehniary 10, 1875. 

1. Bony fish. 

2. Greater. 

3. Increased very much. 

6. Come in the river about December in large schools about the full 
of the moon ; more numerous at that time than any other, and continue 
until May. 

7. Swim high and low at times, and make a ripple and attract sea- 
gulls. 

8. Not known. No one has made it a study. 

9. Eegular, and seem to increase both in size and number. 

11. More numerous on the flow of the tide. 

12. Near the mouth of the river. 

13. All depths ; they have been caught as low as 17 feet. 

14. Not in the least. 

16. The young fish leave the river from July to October, and then in 
solid bodies mix with young shad. 

19. In the river, within 30 miles of its mouth. 

20. Supposed to live on small animM-matter in the water. 

21. They certainly spawn within the limit of 30 miles from the bar, 
as they are never seen higher up. They are supposed to spawn in the 
creeks and coves of the river, as they are alive with the young in the 
summer and fall of the year. 

22. They are mixed indiscriminately 

23. Has never been noticed. 

24. No particular temperature. 

28. Yes ; in the creeks and coves of the rivet. 
29 Yes; late in the season, say about April. 

30. Catfish, garfish, crabs, eels, trout, and other fish. 

31. At times we find a few fish with fish-lice in their mouth. 

32. Sharks, jew-fish, porpoise, bass, and catfish are their greatest 
enemies, to both old and young, and they destroy a great many. 

33. Yes; about four years ago they died in great numbers and were 
washed upon the shore of the river. 

34. No particular nets are used. What are caught are in shad-nets 
having a 5 inch mesh. They are about 17 feet deep and all lengths. 

31 F 



482 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

There are about fifty nets on tbe river. I suppose during the season 
they will catch about five hundred bushels. They are a nuisance to the 
shad fishermen. 
36. None employed. 

39. Yes, more, in shad-nets, on flood-tide toward high water. 

40. More numerous with northeast wind. 

41. None. 

42. What few are caught are used for manure. 

43. None. 

I will here state that these fish have steadily increased in size and 
numbers for the past five years. They are supposed to be much more 
plentiful on the coast outside of the bar. 



78. Statement of Charles Koch, Jaclcsonville, Fla., January 15, 1874. 

1. Yellow-tail. 

2. In the waters of the Saint Mary's, Amelia, Bell River, and Cumber- 
land Sound in greater numbers than other fish. 

3. Increased. 

5. No. 

6. In February the yellow-tail appear in large schools. 

7. They swim high in water only about 2 or 3 feet deep, and are only 
known by their capture and by the movements of sea-birds. 

8. From the Atlantic Ocean, and they return by the ebb to the ocean. 

9. Eegular. 

10. No nets are used ; they are caught by hundreds with hook and 
line. 

11. They come with the tide, and return to the ocean with the ebb. 

12. Oysterbanks and sandy ground, in clear water. 

13. From 3 to 5 feet; as much as 12 feet from the surface. 

14. In water from GO degrees and upward the fish are more solid and 
fat. 

15. Appear on the breeding-grounds in companies, and are of every 
size and age. 

IG. Young 6sh are seen and caught from 4 to 9 inches long. 
17. Leave the coast in September by degrees. 

20. Small shrimp, sandbiire, and barnacles. 

21. In the small creeks from March to the end of April. 

22. I find that these fish go in pairs. 

23. Yes. 

24. Sixty to 75 degrees. 

25. One to 2 feet near the bottom. 

26. The eggs sink to the bottom, and become attached to oysterbeds, 
stones, grass, &c. 

28. The young fish are found in abundance in the small creeks. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 483 

29. Yes. 

30. Wild ducks, crabs, and barnacles destroy spawn and young fish. 

31. Worms and lampreys are often found attached to the outside and 
on the gills; in few cases in the mouth. 

32. Sharks and salt-water catfish attack these fish. 

33. No. 

34. They have been captured in nets by accident, but the fishermen 
here only fish for finer kinds of fish. 

35. Nets for catching other fish are from 100 to 200 yards long and 10 
feet deep. 

36. None. 

39. Yes ; on the morning tide. 

40. Yes; north and west wind have effect on them. 

42. These fish are used as bait and as food for hogs and chickens, or 
as manure. 

43. None. 



79. Statement of B. P. Kane, Matagorda^ Tex., March 1, 1874. 

Capt. William Nichols, a pilot residing at Saluria, Tex., informs mo 
that in September, 1872, great quantities of pogies drifted upon the 
beach at Saluria, and that the waters of the Gulf of Mexico and Mata- 
gorda Bay were full of them; he did not observe whether they were fat 
or not. 

I have been engaged in pogy fishing in Maine for eight years ; have 
fished from Florida to Mexico, but have never seen or heard of men- 
haden ever being south of Cape Hatteras, with the above exception. 



APPENDIX O. 

MISCELLANOUS ITEMS REGARDING THE USE OF FISH FOR MANURE. 

1. The earliest j^rinted account of the use of menhaden for a fertilizer, being 
an extract from an article by Ezra V Hommedieu, 1801. 

Experiments made by using the fish called menhaden, or mossbunkers, 
as a manure have succeeded beyond expectation, and will likely become 
a source of wealth to farmers living on such parts of the sea-coasts where 
they can be taken with ease and in great abundance. These fish abound 
with oil and blood more than any other kind of their size. They are not 
used for food, except by negroes, in the English West India Islands; 
and the price is so low that it will not answer to cure them for market. 
They are easily taken in the month of June, when they come near the 
shores in large and numerous schools. These fish have been used as a 
manure in divers ways and on different soils. *• 



484 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

Ist. In dunging corn in the boles, put two in a bill in any kind of soil 
wbere corn will grow, and you will bave a good crop. Tbe Indians on 
the sea-coasts used to dung their corn with wilks and other shellfish, 
and with fish if they could get it. 

2d. By spreading those fish on the ground for grass a good crop is 
produced; put them on a piece of poor loamy land, at the distance of 
15 inches from each other on the turf, exposed to tbe sun and air. and 
by their putrefaction they so enrich the land that you may mow about 
two tons per acre. How long this manure will last experience has not 
yet determined. 

3d. An experiment was made tbe last summer by one of my near 
neighbors, Mr. Jonathan Tutbill, in raising vegetables with this fish- 
manure. About the first of June he carted near half an ox-cart load of 
those fish on 20 feet square of poor light land, being loam mixed with 
sand. The fish he spread as equally as he could by throwing them out of 
the cart. Being exposed to the weather they were soon consumed. Ho 
then raked oft the bones to prevent their hurting the feet of the children 
who might go into the garden, and plowed up the piece and planted it 
with cucumbers and a few cabbages. The season was extremely dry, 
and but very few cucumbers were raised in the neighborhood except 
what grew on this small piece of ground, and here the production ex- 
ceeded anything that had been known. By his own computation, and 
that of his neighbors, this 20 feet square of ground produced more than 
forty bushels of cucumbers, besides some fine cabbages. I measured 
the ground myself, and make no doubt of the quantity adjudged to have 
grown on the same. 

By putting these fish on the land for manure, exposed to the air until 
they are consumed, there can be no doubt. that a considerable part of 
the manure is lost by the effiuvia which passes off the putrefied sub- 
stance, as is evident from the next experiment. 

4th. Mr. Joseph Glover, a farmer in Suffolk County, having a small 
l)Oor farm, for a few years past has gone into the practice of making 
manure with these fish for the purpose of enriching his land, which is a 
loamy soil, dry, and in parts light. He first carts earth and makes a bed 
of such circumference as will admit of being nine inches thick ; he then 
puts on one load of fish, then covers this load with four loads of common 
earth ; but if he can get rich dirt he then covers it with six loads, and 
in that manner makes of fish and earth a heap of about tiiirty loads. 
The whole mass soon becomes impregnated and turns black. By ex- 
perience he finds that fifteen ox-cart loads of this manure is a sufficient 
dressing for one acre of his poor land, which produces him thirty bushels 
of the best wheat by the acre, and the next year from the same land 
sown with clover-seed he has cut four tons of hay, which he computes 
at two loads aiul a half by the acre. The expense of making this ma- 
nure where the fish are plenty cannot exceed three shillings per ton, 
and is the cheapest manure, considering its quality, of any yet known, 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 485 

provided it is durable, which cannot yet be determined. On some parts 
ot Long Island those fish are taken in seines, and carted six and seven miles 
for the purpose of manure, and is found to be very profitable business. 
Mr. Glover relates a circumstance which is curious, and confirms some 
experiments made by Dr. Priestly, and at the same time shows that you 
derive less benefit from those fish when exposed to the air than when 
covered with earth. He made a heap composed of those fish and earth 
in the manner above related, near a fence where a field of wheat was 
growing on the opposite side. The wheat near the heap soon changed 
its color and grew luxuriant ', and at harvest yielded nearly double the 
quantity of the other part of the field. He is confident that the 
wheat could derive no nourishment from the heap or compost by its 
being washed by rains to the ground on the other side of the fence where 
the wheat grew, and could be affected only by the effluvia arising from 
the putrefaction of the fish and absorbed by the leaves of the wheat.* 



2. Letters from Prof. C. A. Goessmann, on tJie agricultural value of men- 
haden fertilizers. 

Amherst, Mass., October 6, 1877. 
Dear Sir : In answer to your favor of the 2d iust., requesting me to 
state whether my views regarding the character and the agricultural value 
of the menhaden fish-fertilizers are fully expressed in my official reports, 
I take pleasure to reply that my third annual report, which is published 
in the twenty-third annual report of the secretary of the Massachusetts 
State Board of Agriculture (1875 to 187G), contains the most detailed 
exposition of my opinions regarding that subject. Well-prepared fish- 
refuse from our menhaden fish-rendering works are justly considered 
equal to the best branch of our home manufactured nitrogenous phos- 
pliates in commercial and agricultural value. Fish-fertilizers repair to 
some extent the injury which agriculture suffers from the customary 
wasteful sewage system of our large cities ; to secure an increased sup- 
ply is worthy of the most careful consideration from an economical 
stand-point. The due appreciation of our fish-fertilizers suffers still from 
their variable composition ; they differ quite frequently largely in moist- 
ure, and are, as a general rule, too coarse to secure speedy action. A 
more uniform mode of rendering and a more satisfactory mode of dry- 
ing and grinding are very desirable for obvious reasons. To separate 
the rendering business from the manufacture of the fertilizers promises 
better chances for the removal of the present difficulties. I am in- 
formed that a patent has been secured to abstract the fat more thor- 
oughly by some chemical process — I presume by means of bisulphide of 

* Communications made to the society, relative to manures, by Ezra L'Horamedien, 
esq. v^' Transactions of tbe Society for the Promotion of Ajrricultnre, Arts, and Man- 
ufactures, instituted in the State of New York. Vol. I, 1801, pji. G5-G7. 



48b' REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

carbon or beuzine — yet I cannot vouch for the correctness of that state- 
ment; to render but slightly the fish mass and to abstract the remainder 
of the fat subsequently with some suitable liquid, beuzine, &c., would 
be a step in the right direction. 1 found 18 per cent, of fat in dried fish- 
scraps; a good Norwegian fish-guano contains frequently but from 2.5 
to 3 per cent, of fat, and is ground to a fine i)owder. The entire re- 
moval of the fat favors the drying of the fish mass and increases its per- 
centage of nitrogen and phosphoric acid, which in turn raises the com- 
mercial value of the resulting material. The feeding of the fish-guano 
as a rich article of food to our domesticated herbivorous animals, as 
sheep, &c., has engaged of later years considerable attention on the part 
of scientific investigators as a more economical mode of using fish for 
fertilizing purposes. The German experiment stations at Proskau and 
at Hoheuheim have published of late interesting confirmatory results. 
I take the liberty to inclose a page of printed matter, which contains a 
fair statement of present values of fertilizing substances ; it is taken out 
of my fourth annual report on " commercial fertilizers," and may prove 
of interest to you. Offering my services most cheerfully in case my 
opinion on any particular point should be desirable, I remain 
Very respectfully, yours, 

C. A. GOESSMANK 
Prof. G. Brown Goode, 

Washington, D. C. 



Amherst, Mass., November 24, 1877. 
Dear Sir: I sent today by mail such of my reports as are still on 
hand. I regret that I have no copy of my third report, which contains 
the most detailed discussion on fish and fish fertilizers. I presume by 
writing to Hon. Charles L. Flint, secretary of the Massachusetts State 
Board* of Agriculture, Boston, for his annual report of 1875 to 1876, 
which contains my third report, you may be able to secure a copy. A, 
carefully dried and finely ground fish is considered to be one of our best 
substitutes for the Peruvian guano, which is formed from the excretions of 
fish-eating animals, as sea-birds, &c. To secure a similar speedy influ- 
ence on the growth of plants, it is customary to compost fish with soil 
in the usual manner a month or two previous to the designed use. The 
flesh of fish coming from the rendering vats is in an excellent condiciou 
ior rapid disintegration ; the same may be said regarding the fish-bones. 
An addition of sulphuric acid to fresh fish-refuse from the oil-press exerts 
a beneficial influence on the gradual disintegration of tte organic mat- 
ter and the bones, securing at the same time the entire amount of nitro- 
gen by rendering the ammonia formed non-volatile. Larger quantities 
of sulphuric acid produce an increased amount of soluble i)hosphoric 
acid. A good fish-guano belongs to our richest nitrogenous materials 
for manuring purposes. An addition of soluble phosphates in many in- 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 487 

stances aids iu ecouoiDizing its uitrogen, anO thereby lessens the expenses 
for the i^roduc^tioii of many of our farm crops. Potash compounds added 
to fish-guano tend to produce a more complete fertilizer, and therefore 
renders its use safer wherever larger proportions of potash compounds 
are essential for the crops under cultivation. Fish-guano, like Peru- 
vian guano, is very deficient in potassa. To render the fish before work- 
ing them into fertilizers is not only good economy as far as the gain of 
the oil is concerned, it favors also a more rapid disintegration of the 
organic matter by allowing the moisture freely to permeate the entire 
mass. Tbe more the fat has been removed i)tevious to their incopora- 
tion into the soil, the more speedy will be their disintegration and sub- 
sequent diffusion in the soil. Oil appears also to be indifferent to 
plant-growth. 

Wishing that these short discussions of your special inquiries may be 
not without interest to you, I remain 
Kespectfully, yours, 

C. A. GOESSMANK 

Prof. G. B. GooDE, 

Middletoicn, Conn. 



3. A Description of the factory of the Pacific Guano Comxmny^ at Woodh 

Moll, Mass. 

Menhaden scrap is used to a considerable extent for the purpose of 
securing the desired i)roportion of nitrogen (ammonia) in the manu- 
facture of those commercial fertilizers known as superphosphates. By 
many manufacturers it is used only incidentally, their chief reliance 
being bird-guano or the dried refuse of the slaughter-houses. The Pacific 
Guano Company of Boston, however, make it their base for ammonia, and 
use it as a principal ingredient of their manufactured guano. This com- 
pany was established in 1801 by a number of ship-owners in search of 
business for their unemployed vessels. Having purchased Howland's 
Island in the Southern Pacific, where there was a rich deposit of bird- 
guano, they established their business on Spectacle Island, in Boston 
Harbor, and here they carried their guano, and, having dried it in the 
vats of the deserted salt-works, put it up in bags for the market. After 
a time it was suggested that the guano might be improved by the admix- 
ture of refuse fish, and that the ammonia lost by exposure to the 
weather might thus be replaced. In this way the use of menhaden 
chum, already well known as a manure, was introduced into the manu- 
facture. 

In 1863 the works were removed to Wood's Holl, Barnstable County, 
Massachusetts, with the intention of capturing the fish needed, and 
after extracting the oil, applying the pumice to the manufacture of 
guano. 



488 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

To this end an extensive ontiit of vessels and nets was obtained and 
a force of men employed. The location, however, proved to be unfavor- 
able, and after five years' trial the fishery project was abandoned. At 
this point, however, there was little difficulty in procuring the necessary 
supply offish-scrap from the oil-works on Narragansett Bay and Long 
Island Sound. 

About 18GG the supply of guano on Howland's Island having become 
nearly exhausted, its place was gradually supplied by the phosphate of 
lime brought from Swan Island, and two years later by the South Caro- 
lina phosphates. 

The use of the bird-guano, from which the company originally took 
its name, has been entirely discontinued, though for some years it was 
the custom to add a small percentage of that substance. The mineral 
l)hosphates are found to supply its place very satisfactorily. 

The company has two factories : that at Wood's HoU and another 
near Charleston, S. C. The capacity of the latter is about two-thirds of 
the former, although the working force is about the same. That at 
Wood's Hole, which may be considered a representative establishment, 
is situated on Long Neck, about half a mile northwest of the village. 
The factory buildings are very extensive, covering nearly two acres of 
laud, and are used exclusively in the manufacture of the guano, and 
sulphuric acid used in its development, and for storing the raw mate- 
rials. 

A gang of about 85 men is employed, one-third of whom are engaged 
in loading and unloading wharf-work, one-third in manufacture, and 
one-third in packing for shipment. At one time as many as 125 men 
were employed, but the introduction of labor-saving machinery has ren- 
dered a considerable reduction of the force practicable, while at the 
same time the working capacity of the factory has been largely increased. 

A steam-engine of 120 horse-power is used ; also two small hoisting- 
engines for loading and discharging cargoes. The ingredients of manu- 
facture are few and simple, viz : fish-scrap, mineral phosphate of lime, 
sulphuric acid, and incidentally kainit, and sometimes common salt. 

The average annual purchase of scrap amounts to not far from 10,000 
tons. It is stored in bulk in great wooden sheds, and is sometimes 
retained a long time before it can be used. At the time of writing, 
August 10, 1875, a large quantity remains over from the previous year. 
The store- houses cover an area of 16,640 square feet, and the scrap is 
stowed to the depth of 15 feet, giving a storage space of 359,000 cubic 
feet.* 

The mineral phosphate is obtained chiefly from South Carolina, from 

*Iu a letter of October 8, 1877, Mr. A. F. Crowell states: "In our business here we 
consumed for the year 1875-'7G, 708 tons dry scrap (menhaden), value |i20,lC4 ; 2,338 
tons crude scrap, value $31,682 ; producing 13,010 tons soluble Pacilic guano ; 1876-'77, 
2,176 tons dry scrap, value ,§57,784; 5,188 tons crude scrap, value $32,248; producing 
11,398 tons soluble Pacific guano. Our works at Charlestou usually consume oue-third 
less than here." 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 489 

tbe Ashley and Cooper Rivers and from Chisholm's Island in Ball 
Eiver, near Saint Helena Sound. Tbe company owns Swan Island, sit- 
uated in the Caribbean Sea, about 290 miles off Jamaica, and the phos- 
phate of lime was obtained from that point until 18GC or 18G7, when tbe 
reopening of the south gave access to the Charleston beds. The 
company of late has used a considerable quantity of the rock from 
Navassa, a small island lying between Cuba and Santo Domingo, a red- 
dish deposit, rich in phosphate of lime. This deposit is estimated to 
contain on the average 72 per cent, of phosphate of lime, while the 
brown deposit from Saint Helena Sound, technically known as " marsh- 
rock," contains 60 per cent., and the yellow " land-rock," from the 
vicinity of Chaileston, only 50. About 12,000 tons of this rock is used 
annually in the Woods Holl establishment. Great piles of rock are 
to be seen lying out of doors and under sheds, and at the time of 
my visit it was estimated that there were seven or eight hundred tons 
on hand. The only damage to which it is liable from exposure is 
that it collects moisture and becomes more difficult to grind. In such 
cases it is piled in great heaps upon a brick floor, and roughly kiln- 
dried by a fire of soft coal kindled under it. 

The sulphuric acid used is manufactured on the spot from Sicily sul- 
phur, which is brought in vessels from Boston and direct from the Medi- 
terranean. About 1,200 tons of sulphur are used annually, and not far 
from 3,000 tons of sulphuric acid. The sulphuric acid used in manufac- 
ture is brought up to a standard density indicated by GQ on the Baume 
hydrometer, a specific gravity of 1.7674. 

The buildings used in this branch of the business are nearly as exten- 
sive as all the others. The three leaden tanks have a capacity of 
185,000 cubic feet, the smaller containing 48,000 the others 2,000 and 
6,500 respectively. 

In the early days of the business the sulphuric acid was brought 
from Waltham, Mass., and New Haven, Conn., in carboys, but since 
1866 it has been manufactured in Woods Holl at a large saving of ex- 
pense. The Leopoldshall kainit, which averages about 12^ percent, 
potash, comes from the mines at Leopoldshall, in the Duchy of Anhalt, 
near Stassfurt, in Germany. Its use is comparatively recent, until this 
year it having been impracticable to obtain it in any considerable 
quantity. At the time of my visit a Hamburg brig was discharging a 
cargo at the wharf. Not far from 500 tons are used annually. It takes 
the place of the coarse salt formerly used, a refuse i^roduct from the 
gunpowder works at New Haven, Conn. 

The process of manufacture is sufficiently simple. The fish-scrap, on 
its reception, is stored, after being mixed with about 3 per cent, of its 
"weight of kainite. This is a precaution necessary to prevent fermenta- 
tion and putrefaction. Experiments are now in progress to test the 
effect of a large mixture of kainite, which it is hoped will do away 
entirely with this trouble. Common salt, as has been stated, was for- 
merly used for this purpose. 



490 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

The phosphate, as needed, is crushed in a stone-crushing machine, 
and ground between millstones to the consistency of fine tiour. A con- 
venient arrangement of hoppers and elevators greatly facilitates this 
part of the work. 

The scrap having been stored in one wing of the factory, the ground 
phosphate in another, the sulphuric acid having been forced into a 
reservoir near by, by pneumatic pressure, the process of mixing is easily 
carried on. For this work, two of Poole & Hunt's patent mixers are 
employed. These are larger basins of iron, each of which contains 
about a ton of the mixed material. In these the ingredients are 
placed in the proportion of 1,000 X)onnds of phosphate, 900 of scrap, 
find from 300 to 450 pounds of sulphuric acid. The basins then revolve 
rapidly, while a series of plows on one side, also revolving, thoroughly 
stir the mass which passes under them. Fifteen minutes suffices for a 
thorough mixture, and the guano is removed to a storage-shed, where 
it remains for six weeks or more to allow the ingredients to thoroughly 
combine. It is then thrown into hoppers, passed through rapidly-re- 
volving wire screens, and after it has been packed in 200 pound sacks 
is ready for the market. About GOO bags can be filled in a day. 

Before the invention of the Poole & Hunt mixing machine the guano 
was mixed with hoes in large wooden or stone tubs. This process was 
laborious and very expensive, and various machines were devised, but 
they proved failures because the materials caked, clogging the wheels 
and knives in a very short time. 

The guano often contains hard lumps such as cannot be pulverized by 
the wire screen. Eesidue of this kind is subjected to the action of the 
Oarr disintegrator, which consists of two w^heels revolving in oj)posite 
directions at the rate of GOO revolutions to the minute.* 

The offensive odor of the factories renders them disagreeable to per- 
sons residing in the neighborhood, and legal measures have been taken 
in one or two instances to prevent the manufacturers from carrying on 
their business, May 5, 1871, at the session of the United States circuit 
court in New Haven, Judge Woodruff", Connecticut vs. Enoch Coe, of 
Brooklyn, N. Y., granting an injunction to restrain the defendant from 
manufacturing manure from fish at his works in Norwalk Harbor, on the 
ground that the same created a nuisance. In 1872 the Shelter Island 
Camp-meeting Association made an effort to have the factories on Shel- 
ter Island closed, on the same grounds. People interested in building 
up Woods Holl as a watering place once agitated legal measures to 
compel a removal of the works, but the general sentiment of the town 
of Falmouth, in which the comi)any pays heavy taxes, and specially of 
the many villagers of Woods Holl who earn their living in the works, 
prevented any results. 

* The above descriptioa was wiitteu up iu 1874 from facts contributed by Messrs. 
Crowell and Shivcrick, of the Pacilic Guano Couipauy, and short-hand notes taken 
by Mr. H. A. Gill.— G. B. G. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 491 

4. The Cumberland Bone Comimnifs worlxS. 

The following account of a similar establisliment in Maine is taken 
bodily from tbe report of Boardmau & Atkins. The facts appear to have 
been compiled from au article iu the Lewiston Evening Journal, for 
August 17, 1874. 

" Tbe Cumberland Bone Company, whose works are located in Booth 
Bay, is more largely engaged in the use of fish-scrap in the manufacture 
of commercial fertilizers than any other company operating in this 
State. Tbe works of this company, formerly located in Cumberland 
County, were removed to Booth Bay iu 1873-74, and altogether occupy 
sis buildings for the various purposes connected with their business. 
They use South Carolina phosphatic rock, Nevassa, ground bones, fish, 
scrap, sulphuric acid, salt cake, and a slight amount of deodorizing 
compound. The phosphatic rock is heavy and solid, of a grayish color, 
in lumps of all sizes, and is bought by the cargo. The Nevassa is red- 
dish brown in color, quite fine, a little lumpy, but not at all solid, and 
is a sort of guano from an island of the same name in the West Indies. 
These two are ground together in tbe proportion of two parts of the 
former to one of the latter; being ground to a fine powder which is of 
a grayish cinnamon-brown color. Tbe fish-scrap used by the company 
is furnished by the Atlantic Oil Works, whose establishment is situated 
very near the works of the former company. Before being used it is 
treated with the deodorizing mixture — a substance of a very faint yel- 
low color, of which, judging from its appearance, one would say that 
gypsum might be tbe foundation. This mixture is made in one of the build- 
ings of the comi)any provided with a furnace and the necessary tanks 
or retorts, and its preparation is a secret process, understood to have 
been invented by the president of the company. It is said to have been 
thoroughly tested and to work well, and it is thought will come into use 
generall}" among the companies that handle fish-scrap. At present a 
good many of them are troubled with injunctions because of the stench 
arising from the accumulated scrap, which is constantly giving ofi^" its 
ammonia. After being treated with this deodorizer tbe scra^) is placed 
in barrels, and is quite inoffensive, a slight odor of ammonia being ob- 
servable. Bones are ground raw ; to get them fine enough they go 
i'*!irough several mills, but they are not reduced near so fine as tbe phos- 
j)hatic rock or Nevassa. The conipany sell large quantities of this bone 
meal as feed. One of the buildings of the company is used for the man- 
ufacture of sulphuric acid, of which sulphur and niter are tbe principal 
ingredients. Salt cake is a residue from tbe distillation of niter as car- 
ried on in the acid works. Tbe mixing of the ingredients into super- 
l)hosphate is performed in the mixing-room, an apartment of tbe main 
manufacturing building. Over a circular floor, about eight feet iu diam- 
eter, revolve horizontally several arms with breaks and scoops attached. 
Ingredients are poured upon the floor, the arms revolve, dense fumes 



492 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

arise from tbe chemical action, and in a very sbort space of time the 
j)rocess is complete. The arms stir the mixture together perfectly and 
collect it in the middle of the table, whence it is dumped into the base- 
ment. Here it is piled up, and as soon as convenient it is passed through 
a long cylinder, where it is dried by hot air. It is then passed through 
a long series of revolving sieves, and all the coarser particles, which 
consist altogether of pieces of fish, are dried and ground over again. 
The superphosphate is then barreled. It is a very dark gray, almost 
black in some specimens, but drying off to a light gray. lu some lots 
there is a brownish tinge. In mechanical texture the superphosphate 
in the barrels is not perfectly fine — a great quantity of bits of fish re- 
maining unchanged in it. The proportion of the difterent ingredients 
used in the manufacture of superphosphate at these works cannot be 
stated, and is probably one of the secrets of the business. A gentle- 
man who has furnished much information for this paper says that 
"one ton of fish scrap furnished the ammonia for three tons of super- 
phosphate; the larger portion of the other ingredients being Kevassa, 
which costs about $14 per ton, and gypsum, which costs 75 cents per 
ton." The capital stock of this company is $200,000, and it gives em- 
ployment to about fifty men. It made in 1874, 10,000 tons of commer- 
cial fertilizer, valued at 8450,000. The works are regarded as the most 
complete of the kind in the country, are provided with a seventy-fiv^e- 
horse-power engine, and with extensive fixtures for the manufacture of 
sulphuric acid, which when in operation will make six tons of acid per 
day. The entire cost of the buildings and machinery was $110,000. 
It is obvious that these works were located here with good reason. One 
sees a car moved by steam ascending from the pogy-oil factory loaded 
with chum. It passes upon scales, is weighed and then moves on over 
an immense bin into which it is dumped. A chemical mixture is added 
to the heap to prevent the escape of ammonia and to kill the offensive 
effluvia." — [Boardman & Atkins, ojy. clt., pp. 38-40. 



5. The Qiiinni^iac Fertilizer Company'' s Wor]{s. 

The Quinnipiac Fertilizer Company of New Haven was established in 
1852, by William D. Hall, of Wallingford, Conn.; and is the oldest es- 
tablishment of its kind in the United Suites. It was founded under Mr. 
Hall's patent for drying fish scrap by solar heat. Scrap was purchased 
from the oil manufacturers of JMaine and Long Island, and, having been 
])repared for agricultural purposes, was sold to the Connecticut farmers 
jbr thirty cents a bushel. This fertilizer was not essentially different 
jrom that now sold by the same company as "dry-ground sciai)." In 
1854 the maiuifactory was removed from Wallingford to the banks of 
the Poquannock River, in Groton, and the company began buying iish 
and making oil. In 1857 it was again removed to Pine Island, where 



HISTORY OF THE /MEEICAN MENHADEN, 493 

the buildings now occupied by tlie company were put up. From that 
time their business bus steadily increased. In 1871 the company began, 
in connection with their other enterprises, the manufacture of super- 
j)hosphates; this was done for the purpose of using the fish scrap im- 
mediately after the oil had been exi)ressed, thus avoiding that loss of 
ammonia which takes place when the pomace is allowed to ferment. They 
still continue the process of solar drying on plattorms, finding that it is 
more profitable to prepare in large quantities in this manner, at the 
same time using what is necessary in the manufacture of superphos- 
phates. They have tried several machines for artificial di^ying, but 
have not found any which are sufficiently capacious to be profitably 
employed. 

In the manufacture of their superphosphate they use dried and fresh 
fish-scrap, Nevassa phosphates, i^ulverized bone, kaiuit, and sulphuiic 
acid. 

They produce annually about 2,000 tons of superphosphates and 3,000 
to 4,000 tons of other fertilizers, which are widely distributed through 
the New England and Southern States, and are also sent to the Wes'» 
Indies, Santa Cruz, Porto Rico, Cuba, and the Bermudas. 

Their manufactured products are classed by four grades: (1) Pine 
Island Superphosphate, containing from 4 to 5 per cent, of ammonia, 7 to 
9 per cent, of phosphoric acid (average), and 2 per cent, of potash; (2) 
Pine Island Guano, containing 7 per cent, of ammonia and 7 of phos- 
phoric acid, which is intended chief!}" for tobacco farmers and market- 
garduers; (3) Quinnipiac dry ground fish guaiio, which is sun-dried 
scrap thoroughly ground ; and (4) crude or half-dried scrap.* 



6. The Crowell CJiemieal Maniifacturbig Company. 

A New Industry. — The Crowell Chemical Manufacturing Company, 
at Woods Holl, are now building a large factory that is nearly com- 
Ijleted for the purpose of making fish flour for the European markets, 
this flour being a dry, inodorous poudrette for agricultural purposes. 

As soon as the building is completed a large amount of machinery 
that is ready for the pur[)ose will be placed in order immediately, and 
then the company will be ready to commence operations. 

They will require twenty tons of fish each day to supply their needs, 
and as the whole fish is utilized by their process they desire large ones 
for their business, the bodies being valued in the following order : Black- 
fish, porpoises, sharks, dog-fish, j)orgies, and skates, the fish being 
bought entirely by weight. 

Sharks will be purchased at about the same rates as porgies, as will 
dog fish. The company will employ from one to three steamers to con- 

* These facts were given lis by Mr. H. L. Dudley, president of the company, during 
a visit to Pine Island in October, 1877. — G. B. G. 



494 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

stantly cruise for their supplies, making trips from Block Island to the 
coast of Maine, touching at Nomau's Land, Martha's Vineyard, ]S"an- 
tucket. Cape Cod, and other intermediate points, to see the fishermen 
and [)urchase their catches. 

Dr. Sims, the head of this business, was the medical director of the 
Third Army Corps at the close of the rebellion, to which he was ap- 
pointed after serving a year as surgeon on the staff" of General Hookei', 
and is a gentleman of great business capacity and superior intelli 
gence. — [Island Review. 

"Pacific Guano Company, 
" Woods Holl, Mass., October 8, 1877. 

"Dear Sir: Yours 2d at hand. An improved process for the treat- 
ment of fish is now being tested by myself and others. Experiments 
reveal to us that the fish can be preserved, and that we are able to get 
a scrap from them of higher grade in ammonia and a dry powder. The 
fish are treated with bisulphide of carbon and of hydrocarbons as benzine. 
The process removes all the oil and leaves the product in a dry powder. 
The by-product of oil is about eighty per cent, more than by kettle and 
press, and goes far towards paying expenses. 

"The dry scrap as now obtained from menhaden yields on an average, 
10.50 per cent, ammonia (lS"Hj); by the new process 14 per cent, ammonia 
(NH3). 

"We are erecting a building 85 by 40 feet, 34 feet high, to fully test 
the process, and expect to be in working order in December. I inclose 
an article taken from the Nantucket paper. You can no douI)t give us 
valuable information in regard to the habits of the shark, their breeding- 
ground, &c. The fishermen represent a supply off Nantucket that cau 
be taken with hook and line, 

"In our business here we consumed for the year 1875-'7G 70S tons dry 
scrap (menhaden), value ^20,1(54 ; 2,338 tons crude scrap, value |31,G82; 
producing 13,010 tons soluble Pacific guano; 1876-'77, 2,170 tons dry 
scrap, value $57,784; 5,188 tons crude scrap, value $02,248; producing 
11,398 tons soluble Pacific guano. Our works at Charleston usually 
consume one-third less than here. 

" The menhaden scrap is now dried more extensively than ever. The 
solar heat and hard platforms found to be the cheapest and most satis- 
factory process. We purchase what dry scrap we can in place of crude 
scrap. I send you the only document published bearing on the history 
of this company. 

" Yours, truly, 

"A. F. CEOWELL. 

" Prof. G. Brown Goode." 



HISTOEY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 495 

7. Methods of calculating costs of valuable ingredients of fertilizers.* 

The method referred to on page 235 consists in comparing different 
fertilizers by the costs per pound of the valuable ingredients at the prices 
at which the articles are sold. 

The way in which these computations are made here may be explained 
as follows : 

Take first a simple case, a sulphate of ammonia containing 20 per cent, 
of nitrogen, and sold at $100 per ton. Twenty per cent, is equivalent 
to 400 pounds in a ton of 2,000 pounds. These 400 pounds of nitrogen 
cost $100. One pound will therefore cost $100 -^ 400 = 25 cents. 

Now, a more complicated case. Suppose a superphosphate to contain 
valuable ingredients (and that, for convenience, we indicate the latter 
by abbreviations), as below : 

Soluble phosphoric acid, (Sol.) 10 per cent. =200 pounds in ton. 

Insoluble phosphoric acid (Ins.) 2.5 per cent. = 50 " " " 

Nitrogen (K) 3 per cent. = 60 " " " 

that it be sold at $40 per ton, and that the values of the ingredients are 
in the ratios of Sol. 15, Ins. 6, and N. 25 cents per pound. The problem 
will be to find a series of values in the ratios 15 : 6 : 25, which, multiplied 
by the respective numbers of pounds of Sol., Ins., and N. in a ton, will 
give three products, whose sum will be $40. The method employed here 
for solving the problem is as follows : The assumed rate for Ins. was 6 
cents, that for Sol., 15 cents, or 2^ times as much, and that for N. 25 
cents, or 4i times as much. Multiply the number of pounds of Sol. in 
a ton by 2^, and that of JST. by 4i, and add the products to the number 
of pounds of Ins., and the sum will be the number of pounds of Ins. 
which would have the same value as the Sol., Ins., and N. actually i)resent 
taken together. Divide the whole cost by this sum and the quotient 
will be the cost of one pound of Ins. This multiplied by 2.J will give 
the cost of one pound of Sol., and by 4i will give the cost of one pound 
of N. The calculations for the above case will be : 

Sol 200 pounds x 2^=500 pounds Ins. 

Ins .-.- 50 " X 1 = 50 " " 

N 60 " X 41=250 " " 

800 " " 

The price per ton, $40, divided by 800, gives 5 cents, the cost of one 
pound of Ins. ; 5 x 2^=12^ cents cost, of one pound of Sol. ; and 5 X 
4i = 20f , cost of one pound of N. 

*From report of Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, 1876, W. O. Atwatcr, 
director. 



406 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

The proof of the correctness of these figures is plain : 

Soluble phos. acid, 200 lbs., ® 12^ cents, would cost $25 00 

Insoluble" " 50 lbs., ® 5 " " " 2 50 

Nitrogent CO lbs., © 20f " " " 12 50 

Total valuable ingredients in ton would cost $40 00 

Another method for calculating the costs of ingredients, which con- 
sists in estimating the value of one at an assumed rate per pound, sub- 
tracting its total value, as thus computed, from the whole cost, and divid- 
ing the remainder by the number of pounds of the other ingredients to 
get the cost of the latter, is too simi^le to require further explanation 
here. 

In valuations current in this country, nitrogen in these substances has 
been reckoned as worth all the way from two to five times as much as 
jihosphoric acid, pound for j)ouud. Considering the fact that the nitro- 
gen is generally in quite readily, and the phosphoric acid often in v'ery 
slowly available forms, there is ground for varying ratios. A full dis- 
cussion of this subject would require more space than either the knowl- 
edge at our disposal or the necessary limits of this article would per- 
mit. In brief, however, I do not find it easy to see why, if nitrogen is 
worth only about twice as much as phosphoric acid, pound for pound, 
when both are in their most available forms, it should be worth three or 
four times as much, as is sometimes assumed, in bone, in which both 
occur in much less available forms. Too little is known at present of 
the effect of decomposing nitrogenous matter in bone, fish, castor i)om- 
ace, and the like, in dissolving, diffusing, and otherwise rendering avail- 
able the phosphates with which it is so intimately connected, to enable 
us to form any accurate estimate of its value on this account. I con- 
fess that in the light of the little knowledge that we do have it seems 
to me more just to preserve ratios of valuation of nitrogen and phos- 
phoric acid in bone the same, or nearly the same, as in the most avail- 
able forms. In fish, animal refuse, and otlier materials which contain 
considerable nitrogenous matter other than that so intimately mingled 
with the phosphate, and in a form probably more ready to decompose, 
it seems reasonable to give the higher relative value to nitrogen. 

In view of such considerations as these, the costs of nitrogen and 
phosphoric acid in the tables in this report have been calculated on the 
basis of ratios as follows : 

In fish, slaughter-house refuse, and castor-pomace — Nitrogen : Phos- 
phoric acid::2i- : 1. 

In bone — Nitrogen : Phosphoric acid:: 2 : 1. 

In superphosphates the costs of the ingredients are calculated on a 
basis of ratios as per the valuations used in the last report of the sta- 
tion, to wit: Nitrogen, 25; phosphoric acid, soluble in water, 15; solu- 
ble in ammonium citrate, 10 ; insoluble, 6. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 497 

In Peruvian guanos the same rates are adopted as for the superphos- 
phates, the additional ingredient potash being rated at 8. 

The prices are those at which the articles have been sold, or offered 
to farmers during the year at the phices of sale ; the lower rates in 
large quantities, lots of a ton or more, for cash ; the higher one for 
smaller lots, or on time. 

In addition to the analyses and valuations given in the text of the 
report, the following are presented as indications of the actual condi- 
tion of the fertilizer market in respect to three most important classes 
of commercial fertilizers — nitrogenous superphosphates, Peruvian gua- 
nos, and fish manures. The prices given are those which prevailed in 
1875-'76, and are in some cases a trifie higher than now rule. 
32 F 



498 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



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HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 



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HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 



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502 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 
8. Improved onethods of drying Jish scrap. 

The Hogle patent drying machine, manufactured at the works of 
H. B. Bigelow, New Ilaveu, Conn., consists of a boiler containing sev- 
eral iron cylinders, in which the scrap is placed after it has been taken 
from the press, and where it is quickly dried by steam-heat. One of 
these machines is said to convert a ton of scrajj into dry guano in an 
hour's time. The guano prepared in this way brings a much higher 
price than the ordinary scrap. An item in the New York Ilerald of 
July 22, 1872, stated that the former would command the price of $35 
per ton, while ordinary scrap is worth $14. Ordinary scrap contains 
from 5.06 to 10 per cent, of ammonia, while this contains 15. 

Mr. Haddocks remarks : 

" With reference to drying by artificial means, which is obviously 
important, no doubt is felt that the apparatus now in operation will 
effect the work as thoroughly as may be desired, and cheaply and quickly 
also, provided only the oil in the scrap be reduced as above described. 

" Two companies belonging to the association have succeeded in dry- 
ing the scrap in considerable quantities, notwithstanding the obstacles 
referred to. The scrap is passed through a slightly-inclined heated iron 
cylinder, 30 feet long and 4 feet in diameter, and on the passage is agi- 
tated by paddles attached to a revolving shaft, and comes out at the 
lower end dried to about 25 per cent, of moisture. The process will be 
greatly promoted in dispatch and efficiency by the application of the 
new oil-saving method, and the whole manufacture will then be under 
full control. The scrap can at once, upon withdrawal from the press, 
be subjected to the drying process by furnace heat, irrespective of the 
state of the weather, and thus the loss of oil by leakage, mentioned 
above, and of ammonia by decomposition, be forestalled. If the con- 
tained moisture is reduced to a per cent, no lower even than 20 or 25, 
the scrap can be kept on the spot at convenience, and without offense 
to the senses, or transported as required." 

In early days the fish=scrap was not dried, but was allowed to ferment 
in great heaps, sometimes not even protected from the weather At the 
old-fashioned oil- works may still be seen these heaps of foul decaying 
fish, filled with maggots and flies. Salt is sometimes added; also kainit, 
or sulphuric acid. These arrest decay for a time, though nothing is so 
effective as a thorough drying process. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 



503 



APPENDIX P. 

EXPORTS OF MENHADEN OIL FliOM THE POUT OF NEW YOEK, FROM JANUARY, 1875, TO 

JULY, 1878.* 



Quantity 
in bar- 
rels. 



Vessel. 



Destination. 



85 

100 

40 

14 

100 

G4 

25 

75 

50 

50 

120 

250 

50 

190 

200 

200 

1,500 



20 

6G 
545 

8-2 
478 
123 
100 

40 

35 
182 

62 
169 
265 
135 
270 

10 
420 
100 
432 
5 
150 
421 
211 
307 
170 

50 
165 
200 
592 
700 
185 

70 
150 
300 
651 
916 
2,193 
189 
135 
331 
277 
175 
105 
160 
105 

50 
100 

65 

60 
110 



Steamship Utopia 

Steamship State of Nevada 

Steamship State of Indiana 

Steamship State of Georgia 

Bark 11. L. Itouth .' 

Steamship Great Western 

Steamship State of Louisiana 

Steam -hip Bolivia 

Steamship Celtic 

Steamship Italy 

Steamship Cornwall 

Steamship France 

Steamship Manhattan 

Steamship State of Georgia 

Steamship State of Louisiana 

Steamsbip Ethiopia 

Bark G. E. Cnnn 

Steamship Britannic 

Steam:- hip Arragon 

St'i-amship Poreire 

Steamship State of Georgia 

Steamship Cornwall 

Steamship Italia 

Steamship State of Louisiana 

Steamship Ethiopia 

Stfjamship Somerset 

Steamship Ville de Paris 

Steamship The Queen 

Steamship State of Indiana 

Steamship Klysia 

Steamship Atuoi iquo 

Steamship Califoiuia 

Sieamsliip State of Georgia 

Steamship Victoria 

Steamship Nevada 

Steamship Pereire 

Steamship Cornwall 

Steamship State of Pennsylvania . 

Steamship Great Western 

Steamship Geliert 

Steamship France 

Steamship Bolivia 

Steamship Somerset 

Steamship State of Indiana 

Steamship Elysia 

Steamsliip Idaho 

Steamship State of Virginia 

Steamship Ville de Paris 

Steamship Assyria 

Steamship Cnlifornia 

Steamship Arragon 

Steamship Montana 

Steamship Britannic 

Steamship Olympia 

Steamship Utopia 

Steamship State of Pennsylvania 

BarkFloka 

Steamship Bolivia 

Steamship France 

Steamship Ethiopia 

Steamship State of Virginia 

Steamship Somerset 

Steamship State of Georgia 

Bark Helen 

Steamship Arragon 

Steamship State of Virginia 

Steamship State of Indiana 

Steamship Anchoria 

Steamship Glenartney 

Ship K. Fish 



Glasgow. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 
Loudon. 
Bristol. 
Glasgow. 

Do. 
Liverpool. 
Loudon. 
Bristol. 
Havre. 
Liverpool. 
Glasgow. 

Do. 

Do. 
Havre. 
Liverpool. 
Bristol. 
Havre. 
Glasgow. 
Bristol. 
Glasgow. 

Do. 

Do. 
Bristol. 
Havre. 
Liverpool. 
Glasgow. 

Do. 
Havre. 
Glasgow. 

Do. 

Do. 
Liverpool. 
Havre. 
Bi istol. 
Glasgow. 
Bristol. 
Hamburg. 
Havre. 
Glasgow. 
Bristol. 
Glasgow. 

Do. 
LiverpooL 
Glasgow. 
Havre. 
Glasgow. 

Do. 
BristoL 
Liverpool. 

Do. 
Glasgow, 

Do. 

Do. 
London. 
Glasgow- 
Havre. 
Glasgow. 

Do. 
Bristol. 
(Glasgow. 
Halifax. 
Bristol. 
Glasgow. 

Do. 

Do. 
London. 

Do. 



* Compiled by Jasper Pryer, with William Warden, commission and shipping merchant, 88 Walt 
Street, New York. 



504 EEPOET OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

Exports of mcnliaden oil from ilie port of New York, cj-c. — Continued. 





Quantity 


Date. 


in bar- 




rels. 


*1876. 




June 1 


206 


9 


300 


14 


159 


15 


60 


July 5 


140 


U 


35 


15 


141 


27 


140 


29 


50 


Aug. 1 


100 


8 


209 


9 


140 


12 


100 


12 


184 


19 


500 


25 


100 


26 


774 


28 


500 


30 


10 


Sept. 6 


210 


9 


105 


15 


106 


16 


249 


16 


101 


2a 


60 


30 


70 


Oct. 2 


46 


3 


200 


6 


87 


7 


5 


20 


41 


ITov. 24 


95 


Dec. 1 


107 


2 


22 


1877. 




Jan. 25 


100 


29 


139 


reb. 5 


65 


16 


176 


26 


39 


23 


113 


Mar. 3 


75 


6 


200 


15 


447 


17 


96 


19 


15-2 


20 


200 


24 


70 


27 


l.'iO 


April 2 


75 


5 


150 


14 


65 


21 


70 


25 


100 


May 1 


500 


3 


200 


5 


589 


7 


350 


9 


350 


10 


175 


12 


245 


14 


71 


15 


100 


18 


80 


19 


794 


23 


100 


29 


ito 


<Jane 2 


45 


2 


107 


6 


70 


9 


35 


12 


200 


14 


239 


16 


204 


16 


100 



"Vessel. 



Destination. 



Steamship State of Pennsylvania. 

Steamship France ." 

yiiip Jr.o. Bertiam 

Steamship Stale of Virginia 

Steamship Wyomins;; 

Steamship Cornwall 

Steamship Bolivia 

Steamship State of Virginia 

Steamship Britannic 

Bark Arno , 

Steamship Greece 

Steamship Arragon 

Steamship Germain 

Steamship Ethiopia 

Steamsli ip Labrador 

Steamship Canada 

Steamship Bolivia 

Bark .Joshua Loring.. 

Ship Lina 

Steamsli ip Somerset 

Steamship Auchoria 

Steamship State of Nevada 

Steamship California 

Steamship France 

Steamship State of Indiana 

Steamship Assyria 

Steamship Victoria 

Steamship "Wyoming 

Steamship State of Pennsylvania. 

Steamship Bolivia 

Steamship State of Virginia 

Steamship Airagon 

Steamship Cornwall 

Steamship Auchoria 



Bark Vicenzo Pirotto 

Steamship Cornwall 

Bark Spirito 

Steatasbip Somerset , 

Steamship Auchoria , 

Steamship Arragon 

Steamsliip California 

Bark Johanna Wilhelm 

Bark Piiuz Frederick Carl , 

Steamship Cornwall 

Steamship Assyria 

Steamship Lalirador 

Steamship Bolivia 

Steamship Dakota. 

Steamship Somerset 

SteamshipSr.nte of Nevada 

Steamship California 

Steamship Ethiopia 

Steamship Villo de Paris 

St eamship Labrador 

Steaoiship State of Pennsylvania. 

Steamship Bnrivia 

Steamship Caledonia 

Steamship Canada 

Steamship Scythia 

Steaiuship Alsatia...: 

Steamship Somerset 

Steamship France 

Steaiuship State of Nevada 

Steatusliip Auchoria 

Steamship Pereire 

Sliip Subra 

Steamship Alexandria 

Steamsliip Ethiopia 

Steamship Arragon 

Steamship Vii;toria 

Steamship Labrador 

Steamship State of Pennsylvania. 

Steamship Bolivia 

Ship C. U. Southard 



Glasgow. 

Havre. 

Loudon. 

Glasgow. 

Livfr])ool. 

Bristol. 

Glasgow. 

Do. 
Liverpool. 
London. 

Uo. 
Bristol. 
Havre. 
Glasgow. 
Havre. 

Do. 
Glasgow. 
Havre. 
Hamburg. 
Bristol. 
Glasgow. 

Do. 

Do. 
Havre. 
Glasgow. 
Biistol. 
Glasgow. 
Liverpool. 
Glasgow. 

Do. 

Do. 
Bristol. 

Do. 
Glasgow. 

Biistol. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do.. 
Glasgow. 
Bristol. 
Glasgow. 
1 1 avre. 
Loudon. 
Biistol. 
Glasgow. 
Havre. 
Glasiiow. 
Liverpool. 
Bristol. 
Glasgow. 

Do. 

Do. 
Havre. 

Do. 
Glasgow. 

Do. 

Do. 
Havre. 
Jjiverpool. 
'Tilas^ow. 
Bristol. 
Havre. 
Glas'iow. 

Do. 
Havre. 
London. 
Glasgow. 

Do. 
Bristol. 
Gla.sgow. 
Havre. 
Glasgow. 

Do. 
London. 



"There were none exported from January 1 to Juno 1. during 1876. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 505 

Exports of menhaden oil from iheport of Nav Yorli, cfc. — Continued. 



Quantity 
in bar- 
rels. 



105 

147 

142 

40 

555 

100 

185 

68 

200 

40 

137 

137 

231 

76 

201 

25 

75 

33 

63 

135 

70 

70 

2 

75 

35 

201 

200 

300 

300 

50 

50 

1 

1 

150 

91 

90 

1 

2 

150 

101 

S50 

40 

85 

75 

60 

200 

200 

27 

60 

30 

21 !0 

175 

56 

1 

252 

248 

168 

2 

139 

167 

6 

784 

95 

104 

56 

143 

179 

50 

626 



Vessel. 



Bart John Reel 

Steamship State of Nevada. 

Steamship Dorian 

Steam.sh p Devonia 

Ship Empire of Peace 

Steamship Pereire 

Steamship Cornwall 

Steamship Guillermo 

ShiiiR. J. Moulton 

Steamsliip Devonia 

Steanish i o Somerset 

Ship Tevrliesbury 

Steamsliip Ethiopia 

Steamship Suevia 

Steamship Devonia 

Steamsbi]) Peloia 

Steamship Utopia 

Steamship Caledonia 

Steamship Scandinavian 

Steamship St. Laurent 

Steamship Labrador 

Steamship Alexandria 

Ship Crusader. 

Steamship Ameriqne 

Steamship Cornwall 

Bark Enigma 



Bark Gyda 

Ship Pauline •- 

Ship Enropa 

Steamship Anglia 

Steam-hip Arracon 

Steamsliip Andes 

Steamship Etna 

Steamship Scandanavian 

Steamship Somerset 

Ship S. E. Messinger 

Steamship Atlas 

Bark Anlsa 

Ship Favorite 

Steamship Anglia 

Ship Alhatnbra 

Steamship Devonia 

Steamship Baltic 

Steamship Anchoria 

Steamship Adriatic 

Steamship Peieire 

Ship JoFeph 

Steamship Herder 

Steamship Britannic 

Steamship Castalia 

Ship L. L. Stnrges 

Steamship Ethiopia 

do 

Bark Victor 

Ship J. A. Stamler 

do 

do 

Steam.ship Atlas 

Steamship St. Laurent 

do 

Steam-ship Santiago de Cuba- 
Bark H. L. Ronth 

Steamship Germanic 

Steamship Lepanto 

Steamship Wyoming 

Steamship Labrador 

Ship Precrossa 

Steamship Utopia 

Ship James Foster, jr 



Destination. 



Havre. 

Glasgow. 

Bristol. 

Glasgow. 

Liverpool. 

Havre. 

Bristol. 

Do. 
Havre. 
Glasgow. 
Bristol. 
Liverpool. 
Glasgow. 
Hamburg. 
Glasgow. 
Brisiol. 
London. 
Bristol. 

Do. 
Havre. 

Do. 
Bristol. 
Havre. 

Do. 
Bri.stol. 
London. 

Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 

Bristol. 

Port an Prince. 

Savanillia. 

Bristol. 

Do. 
Havre. 
Kingston. 
SavauiUia. 
London. 

Do. 
Havre. 
Glasgow. 
Liverpool. 
Glasgow. 
Liverpool. 
Havre. 

Do. 
Hamburg. 
Liverpool. 
Glasgow. 
Loniion. 
Glasgow. 

Do. 
r.almouth. 
Havre. 

Do. 

Do. 
Kingston. 
Havre. 

Do. 
Havana. 
Gl.'-sgow. 
Liverpool. 
Hull. 

Liverpool. 
Havre. 

Do. 
London. 
Liverpool. 



Note. — From other porta in United States, 2,600 barrels. 



506 EEPOET OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

APPENDIX Q. 

SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES. 

NOTE. — Siuce seDcliug the manuscript of this report to press, several 
valuable coutributious to the knowledge of the menhaden and the 
menhaden industry have been received. In order to bring the discus- 
sion of the subject up to date these have been included in an appendix, 
with references prefixed, which show their proper connection in the body 
of the report. 

Gloucester, Mass., Septcmher 22, 1878 



1. An early allusion to the fat bade on the Southern coast. 

(Paragraph 28, p. 14. ) 

Catesby, in his Natural History of the Caroliuas, Florida, and the 
Bahamas, 1731-1742, Vol. II, p. xxxiii, makes the following allusions to 
the "fat-back" or menhaden: 

" Herrings in March leave the salt Waters and run up the Elvers and 
shallow Streams of fresh Water in such prodigious Sholes that people 
cast them on Shore with Shovels. A Horse passing these waters una- 
voidably tramples them under his Feet; their Plenty is of great Benefit 
to the inhabitants of many Parts of Virginia and Carolina. But the 
most extraordinary Inundation of Fish hai)pens annually a little within 
the northern Cape of Chesapich Bay in Virginia, where there are cast 
on Shore usually in March, such incredible Numbers of Fish, that the 
Shore is covered with them a considerable Depth, and three Miles in 
length along the Shore. At these Times the Inhabitants from far within 
Land come down with their Carts and carry away what they want of the 
Fish; there remaining to rot on the Shore many Times moretfian sufficed 
them : From the Putrefaction that this causes the place has attained the 
Name of Maggoty Bay. 

" These Fish are of various Kinds and Sizes, and are drove on Shore 
by the Pursuit of Porperses and other voracious Fish, at the general 
Time of Spawning ; amongst the Fish that are thus drove on Shore is a 
small fish called a Fat-hacic; it is thick and round, resembling a Mul- 
let but Smaller. It is an excellent Sweet Fish, and so excessive fat that 
Butter is never used in frying, or any other Preparation of them. At 
certain Seasons and Places there are infinite Numbers of these Fish 
caught, and are much esteemed by the Inhabitants for their Delicacy " 

* 2. Departure of the schools in the fall. 

(Section 12, p. 38.) 

Mr. Charles G. Atkins, in a letter to Professor Baird, March 9, 1878 
(Bucksport, Me.), states that young menhaden were more abundant than 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 507 

ever in the fall of 1877. Sometimes at a single tide each net-fisher- 
man would catch at his "berth" thirty or forty iudividuals. They con- 
tinued to take them until January. 

Mr. H. L. Dudley, of Pine Island, states that the season in Eastern 
Lono^ Island Sound has usually opened May 1 to May 10, and closed 
about November 15. In 1877 some fish were caught after December 1, 
and in 1878 his steamer caught 125,000, April 15, the earliest catch ever 
known. 

3. The spawning-grounds of the menhaden. 
(Paragraph 133, p. 99.) 

Evidence now tends to show that some of the schools, at least, defer 
spawning until the season of their approach to the coast in April. Like 
the mackerel, they seem to come into the shoal water along the shores 
of the Middle States and Southern New England laden with ripe ova, 
which they may deposit either on the sandy bottoms at a distance from 
land or in the entrance to the broad bays. With this new light I am 
prepared to believe that certain schools spawn in the rivers and sounds 
of the Southern States from Florida to North Carolina, as is confidently 
stated by several of our correspondents ; indeed, I have had several 
strong testimonies from persons in Florida since writing paragraph 133. 
Although the facts are not sufficient to determine whether menhaden 
spawn on a falling temperature, like the herring, or on a rising temper- 
ature, like the shad, the latter view appears to be gaining in weight. 

Capt. Robert H. Hurlbert, of Gloucester, a close observer, whose 
statements about the mackerel and cod I have often had occasion to 
test and never found inaccurate, assures me that in 1875, when with 
the mackerel feet on the southern coast, he saw a number of menhaden, 
full of spawn, taken in the seine with a school of mackerel, twelve 
miles south of the Five-Fathom Bank light-ship, otf Delaware Bay. 
This was late in April. 

In late April, 1877, again, he seined ten barrels of fat, large fish off 
Chincoteague Shoals, on the eastern shore of Virginia. Their abdo- 
mens were much extended, and all which were examined proved to be 
full of spawn. Captain Hurlbert has caught them and examined num- 
bers of them later in the season after fishing began in Block Island 
Sound, but has never seen spawn in them. 

Capt. Henry E. Webb, of Milk Island, Eockport, Mass., states that 
twenty years ago he was in the habit of catching menhaden in the 
neighborhood of Cape Ann. He caught a few large ones every year 
before the great schools came in. These he cut up for bait, and occa- 
sionally found them full of spawn. He has never seen spawn in them 
after the middle of May. When a boy, as early as 1818, he lived at 
Riverhead, N. Y., near the eastern entrance of Long Island Sound. He 
says that he was accustomed to catch multitudes of young menhaden 
in a musquito net seine toward the end of summer. These little fish 



508 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

when they first came into the creeks were transparent and about half 
an inch long, but increased rapidly in size toward the end of the season, 
and in the fall measured lour or live inches. 

The parallelism between these facts and those connected with the 
spawning of the mackerel is very apparent. I regret that I must send 
this paper to press with the question of the spawning habits of the 
menhaden in such an unsatisfactory condition. 

4. Menhaden fishing on a Long Island steamer. 

[From advance sheets of an article entitled "Around the Peconics," hy Ekxest Ingersoll, in Har- 
pers New Monthly Magazine for October I, 1878, pp. 719-723. ] 

(Paragraph 174, p. r24.) 

Loitering in comfortable indecision, I was fortunate enough to get an 
invitation from Captain "Jed" Hawkins to take a fishing cruise in his 
"bunker" steamer. The start was to be made at earliest dawn — an 
ungracious hour — and I was glad to leave the hotel in the evening, and 
avail myself of a sofa in the captain's snug state-room behind the pilot- 
house, so as to avoid the annoyance of getting up in the middle of the 
night. It was Sunday, and the little wharf was utterly deserted as I 
picked my way among the rubbish and piles of merchandise down to 
the steamer. Standing on the high deck, a picture of serene beauty 
spread before me. The air was perfectly still, the moon just fairly 
risen, and no sound was to be heard save the ticking of that miglity 
time-piece the tide, as its wavelets swung gently back and forth under 
the weedy piers or divided against the sharp prows of the smacks. It 
was light enough to show the spars and ropes of every cralt, and all 
lay as motionless as though fixed in rock rather than floating in liquid, 
save the tremulous blue pennons on the topmasts. Then I turned in ; 
and when I emerged, after an hour's pounding on my door (as it seemed) 
by the chuggety-chuggiug engines, we were far down Gardiner's Bay. 

Last night the unruffled water was like bronze ; now, under the soft 
silvery haze of the moruing, the dancing surface became frosted silver, 
opaque and white save where the early sunbeams, striking through the 
mist, were reflected from the crests of the ripples in glancing ribbons of 
light. Shelter Island was an indistinguishable mass far astern ; Long 
Beach light had ceased to twinkle; Orient Point was hidden in haze; 
Plumb Island, where eagles used to make their metropolis, and many 
fish-hawks now live, nesting on the ground with the gulls, was only a 
low bank of blue ; Gull Islands could not be seen at all ; and I only 
knew that Little Gull with its copper-bolted wall was there from the 
dot in the horizon made by its lonely light-house, and an occasional 
gleam imagined to be the surf breaking on the reefs at the Race. All 
this was northward. Southward the wooded bluffs of Gardiner's Island, 
with' its natural breakwater and light-house, like a long arm reaching 
out between the outer and the inner waters, limiting the view. But 
this was soon left behind, and as the deep indentation of Napeague 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 509 

came into view, the steamer's head was turned southeastward, toward 
Montauk, which, iu the growing light, now stood out plain in every 
bleak feature of sandy dune and treeless moor. Now a very sharp look- 
out must be kept for fish, and after the substantial breakfast iu tbe 
forecastle, I took my pipe and a place iu the shrouds. Ev^en then I 
could not look across Montauk, but could easily see two great ponds of 
fresh water, which nearly served to make an island of the Point. One 
of them, Fort Pond, was once a scene of sanguinary warfare between 
the Moutauks and Narragansetts, the latter being beaten only by helj) 
from the Shelter Island Indians, who drove the invaders to their 
canoes. 

Off Culloden Point the lookout excitedly announced, "Fish off the 
port bow!" The captain seized his glass, and scanned the water. So 
did I. " There's a big bunch," he shouts. " Watch 'em flirt their tails ! 
Good color ! See how red the water is ! " 

" O, yes ; to be sure," I cry. " By Jove, that's a good color!" 

My vacant face must have belied my words, but he didn't notice it. 
He was shouting, " Lower away the boats ! Stand by to ship the nets!" 
furiously ringing signals to the engineer ; giving hasty orders to tbe 
wheelsman ; ensconcing himself in a pair of oil skin trousers, so capa- 
cious I half expected he would disappear altogether ; and so, amid tbe 
roar of escaping steam, the creaking of davit tackle, tbe laughing ex- 
citement of tbe crews, and the rattle of rowlocks, I tumble bead-fore- 
most into a boat, and the steamer was left behind. Now tbe flirting of 
tiny tails was plainly visible, but I must confess that I did not learu to 
distinguish the reddish hue which indicates a school of these fish until 
much later in the day. Tbe two large boats side by side were sculled 
rapidly toward the shore where the fish were seen, the forward part of 
each boat piled full of tbe brown seine, wbich extended in a great fes- 
toon from one to the other. There were four men in each boat, all 
standing up, and in our red shirts and sbiny yellow oil skin overalls we 
must have made a pretty picture on that sunnj^ morning. Close by was 
a pound-net, where a porpoise was rolling gaily, notwithstanding bis 
captivity I but by maneuvering we got the " buu^li " turned away from 
it and well inshore, where the water was not too deep. At last we were 
close to tbem, and now came a scene of excitement. 

" Heave it!" yelled the captain, and in each boat a sailor whose place 
it was, worked like a steam engine throwing tbe net overboard, while 
tbe crews pulled with all their muscles in opposite directions around a 
circle perhaps a hundred yards iu diameter, and defined by the line of 
cork buoys left behind, which should inclose the fish. In three minutes 
the boats were together again ; the net was all i^aid out; an enormous 
weight of lead bad been thrown overboard, drawing after it a line rove 
through the rings along the bottom of the seine. Tbe effect, of coilrse, 
was instantly to pucker the bottom of the net into a purse, and thus, 



510 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

before the poor bunkers bad fairly apprehended their danger, they were 
caught in a bag whose invisible folds held a cubic acre or two of water. 

This was sport! J had not bargained for the hard work to come, to 
the unsportive character of which my blistered palms soon testified. 

I^Tone of the fish were to be seen. Every fin of them had sunk to the 
bottom. Whether we had caught ten or ten thousand remained to be 
proved. Now, lifting the net is no easy job. The weight of nearly ten 
thousand square yards of seine is alone immense, but when it is wet 
with cold sea-water, and held back by the pushing of thousands of en- 
ergetic little noses, to pull it into a rocking boat im[)lies hard work. 
However, little by little it came over the gunwales, the first thing being 
to bring up the great sinker and ascertain that the closing of the purse 
at the bottom had been properly executed. Yard by yard the cork line 
was contracted, and one after another the frightened captives began to 
appear, some folded into a wrinkle or caught by the gills in a torn mesh 
(and such were thrown back), until at last the bag was reduced to only 
a few feet in diameter, and the menhaden were seen, a sheenj^, gray, 
struggling mass, which bellied out the net under the cork lines and 
under the boats, in vain anxiety to pass the curious barrier which on 
every side hemmed them in, and in leaping efforts to escape the crowd- 
ing of their thronging fellows. How they gleamed, like fish of jewels 
and gold ! The sunshine, finding its way down through the clear green 
water, seemed not to reflect from their iridescent scales, but to penetrate 
them all, and illumine their bodies from within with a wonderful chang- 
ing flame. Gleaming, shifting, lambent waves of color flashed and j^aled 
before my entranced eyes ; gray as the fishes turned their backs, sweep- 
ing brightly back with a thousand brilliant tints as they showed their 
sides ; soft, undefined, and mutable, down there under the green glass 
of the sea ; while, to show them the better, myriads of minute medussB 
hurried hither and thither, glittering like phosphorescent lanterns in 
gossamer frames and transparent globes. 

All possible slack having now been taken in, the steamer approaches, 
and towing us away to deeper water, for we are drifting toward a lee 
shore, comes to a stand still, and the work of loading begins. The cork 
line is lifted up and made fast to the steamer's bulwarks, to which the 
boats have already attached themselves at one end, holding together at 
the other. This crowds all the bunkers together in a mass between the 
two boats and the steamer's side, where the water boils with the churn- 
ing of thousands of active fins. A twenty-foot oar is plunged into the 
mass, but will not suffice to sound its living depths. Then a great dip- 
per of strong netting on an iron hoop is let down by tackle from the 
yard-arm, dipped into the mass under the guidance of a man on deck 
who holds the handle, the pony-engine puff's and shakes, and away aloft 
for an instant swings a mass of bunkers, only to be upset and fall like 
so much sparkling water into the resounding hold. 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 511 

"How many does that dipper bold?'' 

''About a thousaud." 

"Very well, I will count bow many times it goes after a load." 

But I didn't. I forgot it in looking down the batcbway. Tbe floor 
of tbe sballow bold was paved with animated silver, and every new 
addition falling in a lovely cataract from far overhead, seemed to 
shatter a million rainbows as it struck the yielding mass below, and 
slid away on every side to glitter in a new iridescence till another 
myriad of diamonds rained down. If you take it in your baud, tbe 
mossbuuker is an ordinary-looking fish, like a small shad, and you do 
not admire it; but every gleaming fiery tint that ever burned in a sun- 
set, or tinged a crystal, or painted tbe petals of a flower, was cast in 
lovely confusion into that rough bold. There lay the raw material of 
beauty, the gorgeous elements out of which dyes are resolved — abstract 
bits of lustrous azure and purple, crimson and gold, and those indefina- 
ble greenish and pearly tints that make the luminous background of all 
celestial sun-painting. As the steamer rolled on the billows, and tbe 
sun struck the wet and tremulous mass at this and that angle, or tbe 
whole was in tbe half-shadow of tbe deck, now a cerulean tint, now a 
hot brazen glow, would spread over all for an instant, until tbe wrig- 
gling mixture of olive backs and pearly bellies and nacreous sides, with 
scarlet blood-spots where the cruel twine had wounded, was buried 
beneath a new stratum. 

"How many?" I asked when all were in. 

"Hundred and ten thousand," replied Captain Hawkins. "Pretty 
fair, but I took three times as many at one haul last week." 

" What are they worth ?" 

"Oh, something over a hundred dollars. — Hard astarboard! go ahead 
slow." 

And the labor of the engines drowned tbe spat, spat, spat of tbe 
myriads of restless little tails struggling to swim out of their strange 
prison, while I climbed to tbe mast-bead to talk with the grizzly old 
lookout, who had been round Cape Horn thirteen times, yet did not 
think himself much of a traveler. 

The cry of, "Color off the port bow!" brought us quickly down the 
ratlines and again into tbe boats. 

That day we caught 250,000 fish, and made a round trip of a hundred 
miles, going away outside of Montauk Point, where it was frightfully 
rough after a two days' easterly gale. Great mountains of water, green 
as liquid malachite, rolled in hot baste to magnificent destruction on 
the beach, where tbe snowy clouds of spray were floating dense and 
high, and the roar of tbe surf came grandly to our ears wherever we 
went. Tet tbe difficulties were none too great fur these hardy fisher- 
men, who balanced themselves in their cockleshells, and rose and sank 
with tbe huge billows, without losing their hold upon the seines or per- 
mitting a single wretched bunker to escape. 



612 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 
5. The mamifacfure of sardines from menhaden. 

(Paragraph 189, p. 137.) 

The S"ew York Times, April 12, 1874, has the following account of 
the Port Monmouth factory : 

" The scene at the fishing grounds off Sandy Hook at the height of 
the season is picturesque in the extreme. The day is usually a bright 
one, Avith just enough breeze to render the heat bearable and toss up 
the small white caps of the waves for the sunlight to sparkle on. The 
fishermen in their jaunty little ten-ton sloops have been lying off the 
' grounds ' since midnight. In the dim light of the early dawn the 
' school ' is descried approaching against the wind. The menhaden 
swims on the surface, and the serried ripples of myriads of fins cover 
the broad expanse for thousands of feet in every direction. The small 
boats are lowered, the long net, over 7,000 feet in length, and reaching 
12 or 13 into the water, is carried out on both sides until tlie hapless 
fish are inclosed in a vast senjicircle, through the meshy walls of which 
there is no escape, and irom which they are ladled in thousands by the 
fishermen armed with small nets or ' scoops,' holding a peck apiece. 
The silly victims never think of escaping by swimming beneath the 
lower edge of the net, a few feet below the surface. The victims are 
then loaded on the sloops, which make sail as rapidly as possible lor the 
factory dock at Port Monmouth. During rough or unusually breezy 
weather the general effect is greatly heightened. The flapping sails, 
careening boats, and spray-drenched fishermen, hauling on the seine 
with redoubled exertions in order to get in their catch before the wind 
freshens into a gale, forms a picture exhilarating even to old hands at 
the business. At the landing the fleet are greeted by the 180 employes 
in the factory, and the entire catch, often reaching a thousand bushels, 
is rai)idly transferred to the shore. Then begins the more prosaic part 
of the process. The fish to be cured are selected from the catch, the 
medium-sized ones being preferred, their heads itails, and entrails re- 
moved by a new machine, the exclusive property of the company, and. 
their bodies transferred to the ' scalers.' Only from a half to a fifth of 
the original haul is used, two hundred bushels being the ordinary amount 
handled daily. These the ' scalers ' seize and submit to the scraping- 
machine, a series of revolving curry-combs arranged on four lines of 
shafting 50 feet long, which frees each fish of its scales in the space of 
about a second and a half. As seventy or eighty men are at work, 
straining every nerve to get the 'catch' into the salt before the heat 
of the day, the rapidity with which the finny game are put through the 
various details is something startling. The 'cleaners' are long oval 
troughs of running water, over which revolves a series of brushes, 
something after the pattern of the 'scaler,' and which does all that its 
name imi)lies in an almost equally short space of time. From this the 
fish go into the salting barrels, a stage of the work at which the men 



HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN MENHADEN. 513 

take breath for the first time. lu these the fish are allowed to remain 
for two or three hours, at the end of which they are thoroughly cured, and 
are transferred to the zinc-covered tables, 8 feet by 6, with raised edges. 
In this position water is poured on them, aiul afterwards drained off m 
tubes connecting with the corners. The cooking cans, tin boxes a little 
larger than the ordinary packing cans, next receive them, and are then 
place<l in steam tanks, seven in number, of a capacity of a ton each. 
Here they are left for two hours, during which they are thoroughly 
cooked. After being taken out and packed in the regular market-cans, 
the fish are conveyed to other tables, on which the process of oiling is 
gone through. Olive-oil is poured on them until the cans can hold no 
more, and the latter then passed to the tinners, of whom the company 
employ thirty-five, to go through the process of soldering. From this 
department they are taken back into another set of steam-tanks to be 
heated for venting. When the tin is at a proper temperature the can 
is taken out and a small hole opened at one end, through which the hot 
air is suffered to escape, and the aperture is then hermetically sealed. 
In the room adjoining the cans are packed in wooden cases for shipping, 
two dozen to the case. The retail price per full sized can, containing 
from seven to nine fish, is fifty cents ; that of the same size of the French 
imported goods, $1.10 in gold. The buildings of the company include a 
large factory, 360 feet long by 120 broad, and Irom four to five stories in 
height, and a boarding-house for their employes. The former contains 
the necessary rooms for the various departments of the work already 
described, together with the machinery and equii)ments, most of which 
are original with the present enterprise. The engine used is of fifty 
horse-power, amply sufficient for all ordinary purposes. The company 
board and lodge all their hands, make all the tin-work, cans, &c., and 
kee[) their own teams and carts for hauling their goods to the dock at 
Port Monmouth. The pay-roll of the establishment, excluding the 
board and lodging of all the workmen, is about 83,000 a month, reach- 
ing during the busiest part of the season as high as $1,000 per week. 
The boarding-house contains accommodations for 180 men, iuchuling 
dining rooms, sleeping rooms, &c. Everything is kept clean and in 
order, and the health and comfort of the inmates sedulously cared for. 
A long dock has been constructed near the entrance to the main build- 
ing, in 15 feet of water, where the sloops and boats unload their cargoes. 
Several hundred thousand dollars have been invested in the business, 
the facilities of which are being enlarged annually. Besides the home 
business, done with every State in the Union, the company ship large 
consignments to foreign ports, including Liverpool, Hamburg, and other 
places. At the Vienna iiixposition of last year their contributions at- 
tracted much attention, and were unanimously awarded the gold medal 
of honor and the grand diploma of merit. An agency was also estab- 
lished in that city for Austria and Russia, which has since acquired a 
fine business. At home they have received flattering indorsements and 
33 F 



514 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

cougratulations from the first business houses of Xew York, Saint Louis, 
Cincinnati, and the other great cities, all speaking in high terms of the 
flavor and delicacy of the American sardine, and reporting large sales 
of the article. So great has been the demand that up to the time of 
the panic they were unable to fill tlie orders i)ouriug in from various 
parts of this country and Europe. The fishing season this year com- 
mences late, having been materially delayed by the cold weather. The 
'schools,' however, are expected in the vicinity of Sandy Hook by the 
1st of May, after which the woik will be prosecuted night and day to 
the close of the season." 

6. Small oiltrying icorls in Maine^ 18G0. 

(Paragraph 229, p. 165.) 

The Gloucester Telegraph of February 22, 18G0, states that the inhab- 
itants of Brooklin, Me., manufacture annually from 500 to 1,000 barrels 
of pogy oil, worth from $15 to $20 a barrel. 

7. The use of fish for mamire hy the early colonists of Massachusetts. 
(Paragraph 268, p. 195.) 

The following order from the records of the town of Ipswich, Mass., 
May 11, 1044, illustrates, in a comical way, the custom of using fish for 
manure in those early days : 

" It is ordered that all doggs, for the space of three weeks after the 
publishing hereof, shall have one legg tyed up, and if such adogg shall 
break loose and be found doing any harm, the owner of the dogg shall 
pay damage. If a man refuse to tye up his dogg's legg, and hee bee 
found scrapeing up fish in a cornefleld, the owner thereof shall pay 
twelve pence damages beside whatever damage the dogg doth. But if 
any fish their house lotts and receive damage by doggs, the owners of 
those house lotts shall bear the damage themselves."* 

8. A fislifertilizer company in Boston, 18G0. 

(Paragraph 282, p. 210.) 

"A company was established in Boston in 1860, prepared to grant 
licenses for treating fish under the patent of Messrs. De Molon and 
Thurneyssen, dated March 6, 1855."t 

* CoflQn's History of Newbury, «fec. Boston, 1845, p. 42. 
t Cape Ann Advertiser, 1860. 



EXPLANATION OF PLATES. 



Plate L 



Figure 1. Brevoortta tyrannus (p. 19), adult, 12 inches long, fronx "Wood's Holl, Mass. Drawn by H. L. 
Todd. 

Plate IL 

rigure 9. Brevoortia tyrannus (p. 19), young, 8 inches long, from "Wood's UoU (Ko. 20,CC6 c). Drawn by 
H. L.Todd. 

Plate IIL 

Figure 3. Brevoortia tyrannus, subsp. aurea (p, 21). Drawn by H. L. Todd, from a specimen in the 
Museum of Comparative Zoology, Brazil. 

Plate IV. 

Outlines showing the variations of Brevoortia tyrannus (p. 21) : 
Kgure 4. Brevoortia tyrannus, subsp. menhaden, "Wood's IToIl. 
Figure 5. Brevoortia tyrannus, subsp. hrevicaudata, Noank, Conn. 
Figure 6. Brevoortia tyranmis, subsp. menhaden. Saint John's Kiver, Fla. 
Figure 7. Brevoortia tyrannus, subsp. aurea, Brazil 

Plate V. 

Figure 8. Brevoortia patronus (p. 26), young? 8 inches long, from Brazos Santiago, Texas (892 a). Drawn 
by n. L. Todd. 

Plate VI. 

Figure 9. Brevoortia pectinata (p. 30). Drawn by H. L. Todd, from a specimen in the Museum of Com- 
parative Zoology, Eio Grande, Brazil. 

Plate VII. 

Figure 10. Brevoortia dorsalis (p. 37), west coast of Africa. Outline from Bleekor's Plate. 

Plate VIU. 

Figure It. Facsimile of plate accompanying Latrobe's description of Clupea tyrannus and Oniseua 
prcegustator, (p. 15), from Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, Vol. V, 1803, Plate L 

Plate IX. 

Figure 12. Map showing geographical distribution of the North American menhaden, the annual 
movements of the schools, and the locations of the fishing-grounds and the oil-factories. 

Plate X. 

Parasites of the menhaden. Drawn by J. IE. Emerton : 
Figure 13. Ilead of fish showing the position of the crustacean parasite (p. 102). 
Figure 14. Cyniothoa prcegustator (p. 101). 
Figure 15. Loemonema radiata (p. 104). 

Plate XL 

Figure 16. Map of the menhaden fishing-grounds of Maine (from Maddocks' Eeport). 

Plate XEL 

Figure 17. Diagram of temperature strata in the Atlantic Ocean between New Tork and the Ber- 
mudas, April 24 to May 8, 1873 (p. 66). Copied from the " Reports of Capt. G. S. Nares, R. N. (H. M. S. 
Challenger), with abstract of soundings and diagrams of ocean temperatures in the North and South 
Atlantic Oce.ans, 1873." 

Plate XIIL 

Figure 18. Diagram of temperature strata in the Atlantic Ocean between Halifax, Nova Scotia, and the 
Bermudas, (p. 66). From Captain Nares's Report. 

515 



516 EXPLANATION OF PLATES. 

Plate XIV, 

Diagrams illustrating the use of a pnrae-seino (p. 117) : 
Figure 10. Section of seine showing cork-line and leail-lino with bridle for pursing, 
rigure 20. Lower part of purse-seine showing the arrangement of the pursing weight. 
Figure 21. Diagram showing boat and method of pursing the seine. 

Plate XV. 
Cape Ann seine-boat, with gear (p. 120). Drawn by J. H. Emerton : 
Figure 22. Seine-boat, 88 feet long, showing seine in position, ready to be set; pump, and other fittings. 
Figure 23. Section of stem of seine-boat, showing towing-links and gear. 
Figure 24. Pursing-blocts, fihowing method of attachment to thwart of seine-boat. 
Figure 25. Oar-rest and fastenings (new model). 
Figure 26. Oar-rest (old model). 
Figure 27. Purse-weight and pursing blocks. 

Plate XVI. 

Figure 28. Cape Ann dory, with details of construction (p. 122). 
Figure 29. Side of seining schooner, with seine-rollers. 

Plate XVIT. 

Figure 30. A menhaden seining steamer (p. 123). (From Haddocks' "The Menhaden Fishery of 
Maine.") 

Plate XVIII. 

Figure .31. Diagram of the seining steamer "Leonard Brightman." 

1. Pilot-house. 

2. Gangway to forecastle. 

3. Main hatch for stowage of fish. 

4. Engine-house. 

5. Towing-chocks. 

Plate XIX. 

Fignre 32. Seining menhaden at Cape Ann (p. 125). (From a sketch by Mr. P. Center.) 

Plate XX. 
Figure 33. Seining menhaden in Peconic Bay (p. 124). From the "American Agriculturist." 

Plate XXI. 
Figure 34. Maine steamers seining menhaden (p. 126). From a sketch by Henry "W. Elliott 

Plate XXII. 

The preparation of menhaden for bait (p. 147). Drawn by J. H. Emerton : 
Figure 35. Slivering menhaden. 
Figure 36. Bait-mill, perspective view. 
Figure 37. Bait-mill seen from above, showing knives. 
Figure 38. Eoller of bait-mill. 

Figure 39. Bait or churn bos, which, when in use, is fixed in the rigging, as shown in Plate XVI, Fig. 29. 
Figure 40. Bait-dipper. 

Plate XXIII. 

Figure 41. Knives for slivering menhaden (p. 147). Drawn by H. L. Todd. 

1. Slivering knife, old style. 

2. Slivering knife. 

3. Slivering knife, modem style. 

4. Slivering kuife, old style. 

Plate XXIV. 

Figure 42. Factory of American Sardine Company at Port Monmouth, N. J., (p. 137). Cut lent by 
Mr. F. F. Beals. 

Plate XXV. 

Figure 43. Factory of The George "W. Miles Company on Charles Island, Milford, Conn., with floating 
factory "Alabama," (p. 171). Cut lent by Mr. Miles. 



EXPLANATION OF PLATES. 517 

Plate XXVL 
Figure 44. Factory at Napeague, N. Y. (p. 173). Cut lent by the "Amorican Agriculturist." 

Plate XXVII. 

Interior views of the factory at Napeagne (p. 173) : Cut lent hy the " Americaa Agriculturist." 
Figure 45. Interior of the pot-works (old style). 
Figure 46. Press-room (old stylo). 

Cuts lent by the "American Agriculturist." 

Plate XXVm. 

Figure 47. Factory of Luther Haddocks at Booth Bay, Me. From " The Menhaden Fishery of Maine." 

Plate XXIX. 

Figure 48. Factory of Joseph Church & Co. at Round Pond, Me. (p. 172). From " The Menhaden Fish- 
ery of Maine." 

Plate XXX. 

Figure 49. The ship "Alabama" used by the George W. Miles Company for a floating factory (p. 171). 
From an India-ink drawing by H. L. Todd, copied by one of the photographic processes of Penning- 
ton & Co. 

Plate XXXL 

Figure 50. Factory of the Pacific Guano Company at "Wood's HoU, Mass. Cut lent by the Company. 



ALPHABETICAL INDEX. 



Page. 



Abbe, W. A 

Abbott, Dudley 

Abundance of menbaden, future. 

Abundance, past 

Abundance, present 

Acidulated fisb, manufacture of . 
Adams, Mr 



81 
96 
93 
78 
79 
226 
154 

Adams & Co 90,109,477,478 

452 
118 
225 
191 
17,33 
2G6 
194 
171 



Adams, J. S 

Adams, Capt. Nathaniel 

Adamson'a process 

Adulteration, menbaden oil used for 

Agassiz, Prof. L. J. E 

Agriculture, loss to, from waste of fisb.. 
Agdculture, relation of fisb products to. 

"Alabama," fishing et earner 

Albula vulpes 14, C9 

Albuminoids 255 

Alden, C. G 211 

Alewifo 7,13,14,15,70,00,90,267 

Alien or outside fishes 08 

Alimentary canal of menbaden 34 

Allen &. Co 80 

Allen, G., &. Co 165 

Allen, George E 50,106 

Allen, Williams 272,413 

Allison, W. O 4, 192,273 

AUize 15 

AUyn, Gurdon S., & Co 80, 120, 106, 17.5, 183, 188, 

290, 298, 428, 432 

Almy, Otis H., & Co 106,290,423 

Alosa pectiuata 13 

Alosa sapidissima 14, 69 

Ambros?, Kov. John 57, 53, 01, 04 

American Agriculturist 173 

Americ.'in club fish 138 

Ammody tes lanceolatus 70 

Ammonia 234 

Ammonioted superphosphate, manufac- 
ture of '. 207 

Analyses of menhaden and whale 223 

Anderton, J. L 41,90,273,400 

Animals, menhaden as food for 140 

Animal nutrition, iirinciples of 250 

Annual destruction of menhaden 109 

Archosargus probatocephalus 70 

Argyrosomus clupeiformis 14 

Aebbj', Benjamin 151, 159, 277 

Ashore, menbaden driven 107 

Associations of manufacturers 191 

AtheriuD. 70 

Atkins, Charles G 5, 49, 70, 72, 70, 90, 97, 99, 106, 

127, 129, 170, 172, 199, 200, 205, 259, 271, 275, 276, 506 



Atlantic Oil and Guano Company. .80, 166, 18.5, 186, 
187, 368, 369, 370, 371, 333, 384, 423 

Atwater, Prof. W. O 4,194,237 

Atwood, Capt. Xatbaniel E. . .32, 97, 99, 142, 272, 277 

Atwood, WilUam 272,404 

Aumsuog 11 

Axillary appendages of menhaden 33 

B. 

Babson, Capt. P. J . ..48, 75, 81, 98, 115, 124, 125, 136, 
148, 180, 271, 273, 274, 395 

Babson, Horatio 82, 277 

Baird, Profes.sor. .1, 3, 41, 51, 62, 79, 100, 108, 109, 152, 
100, 103, 172, 268, 274, 275, 277, 2;9, 290, 449 

Bairdiella punctata 14 

Bait, consumption of menbaden for 149 

Bait, annual sale of, by Maine manufac- 
turers 151 

Bait, export of, to Dominion 156 

Bait fisb, menhaden as a 141 

Bait fishermen and others, conflicts be- 

twetu 153 

Bait-fishery, extent of, in New England .. 148 

Bait-fishery in Merrimac Kiver and Salem 

Harbor 1 48 

Bait, menhaden for mackerel 142 

Bait, menbaden for cod 141 

Bait-mill 148 

Bait, menhaden, in the coast fisheries 148 

Bait, value of menhaden for, aff'ected by 

food 95 

Balfena mysticetus 105 

Ball, H. O 272,425 

Bankers _ 142 

Barracuda 09,88 

Barron Island Manufacturing Company.. 168, 175, 

183,189,296 

Bartlett, Mr 374,403 

Bartlett, Mrs. John 162,109 

Batby liius 94 

Batuta, Hiu 258 

Bay alewifo 16 

Bayonet-Qsh 106 

Beats, F. P 137, 138, 273, 274 

Bean, Dr. T. H 4,97 

Beebo, Captain 43, 76, 85, 116, 179, 182, 272, 432 

Beesley, Mr , 210 

Bell, James H 41,90,97,107,273,454 

Bonson, J.B 90,273,457 

Beiizine process 178 

Bermuda Islands 14, 36 

Bessels, Dr. Emit 94 

Bigelow, James W 278 

Bingham & Co 391 

519 



520 



ALPHABETICAL INDEX. 



Page. 

lUrds attracted by tlie schools 71 

Bishop, J. H 167, 175, 183, 188, 296, 360 

Bisulpbido of carbon process 178 

Blaclj ford, E. G 4, 155, 273 

Bleaching-tanks 170 

Block Island Sound 43 

Blue-hack herring 142 

Bhiotish 1, 12, 60, 70, 84, 91, 92, 106, 107, 109 

Bluefish, Captain Spindel on the ravages 

of 108 

Bluefish, Professor Baird on the destruct- 

iveness of 103 

Bluefish fishery, Statistics of 2 

Boardmnn, G. A 36 

Boardman, Samuel L 5, 49, 70, 76, 77, 96, 99, 106, 

127, ICO, 170, 172, 199, 200, 205, 259, 275, 270 

Body, shape of, in meuhadeu 20 

Booito 2,51,69,106 

Bony fish 12,79,111 

Booth Bay region 113 

Bosc, M 286 

Bottom fishes 68 

Bourne, Jonathan, jr 297 

Bowen, Mr 451 

Bowing, John 178 

Boyd, Thomas 141 

Bradford, Governor 195 

Bradley, James 277 

Brandt, Mr 289 

Brazil, menhaden of 17 

Bremen factory 379 

Brevoor f , J. Carson 18, 95 

Brevoortia dorsalis 37 

Brevoortia menhaden 18 

Brevoortia patron us 26 

Brevoortia pectiuata 30 

Brevoortia tyraunus 19, 70 

Brightman, Benjamin F 49, 75, 80, 114, 179, 128, 

180, 271, 358, 360, 362, 3C4, 379, 402 

B-ightman, L., &. Sons.... 164, 16,5, 1S5, 186, 187,369, 

370, 371, 372, 379, 386, 423 

Brightman, William J., &, Co 166, 175,182, 188, 

296, 297, 298, 360, 423 

Bristol Oil Works.... 164, 165, 175, 185, 186, 187, 188, 

296, 368,-369, 370, 371, 372, 379 

Brown's Cove Works 164, 165, 175, 185, 186, 187, 

296, 371, 372 

Brown , Isaac 166, 175, 182, 188, 296, 360, 361, 365 

Bruce, Duncan 210 

Bug-fish 7,102 

Buggy-head 13 

Bug-hoad 13 

Burnett, Nelson 168,296 

Burning-oil, menhaden oil for 191 

Burke, George W 272 



C. 



Canada, manufacture of fish-manure in .. 210 

Canadian officers, the testimony of 146 

Ca.nceriuo 210 

Cape Ann dory 122 

Cape Ann, menhaden fisbing about 125 

Cape Ann method of icing bait 152 

Cipe Ann region 113 

Cape Ann, movements of mouhadon about. 48 



Page. 
Cape CodBay, movements of menhaden in. 47 

Cape Cod Oil Works 165,296 

Cape Cod region 113 

Capo Cod, movements of menhaden on 

south shore of 46 

Capo Hatteras, movements of menhaden 

about 37,91,470 

Capelin 70,142 

Capital employed by manufacturers of 

Maine Association 185 

Capture, apparatus of 117 

Caranx trachurus 13 

Carbohydrates 255 

Carrigan, Christopher 144,278 

Carrigan, llufiis 144, 278 

Cartwrigbt, B. C, & Co 167, 296, 444, 446, 448 

Casts of menhaden 290 

Catalogue of specimens in the National 

Museum 289,290 

Catesby 's Natural Histoi-y 500 

Cat-fishes 106 

Causes influencing arrival and departure . 38 

Centropristis atrarius 70 

Ceroes 69 

Chad wick, Capt. Frank A 80 

Cha>nopsetta ocellaris 151 

Chapman. R., & Co 167,181,428,432 

Chase, Capt. Remark 83 

Chase, S. B 277 

Cbatto, E. C, &Co 165 

Chebog 15 

Chemical methods of extracting oil 178 

Chemical terms in fertilizer analysis 234 

Chesapeake Bay, factories on i 168 

Chesapeake region 113 

Chirostoma notatum 70 

Cbogset 69 

Chum, menhaden -148 

Church, Pvev. A. W 135 

Church, Daniel T. . . .4, 40, 44, 75, 84, 8S, 105, 107, 115, 
124, 126, 165, 166, 174, 179, 181, 272, 
273, 358, 360, 361, 362, 364, 365, 418 

Church, Joseph, & Co 5, 88, 123, 164, 165, 169, 

172, 174, 175, 181, 182, 185, 180, 187, 188, 296, 
297, 368, 369, 370, 371, 372, 379, 386, 402, 477, 478 

Circular of inquiry 4,268 

Clark, G.H 168,175,183,189,296 

Clark, Henry W 425 

Clift, Rev. William 201,203 

Clubfish, American 138 

CI upanodou aureus 17, 21, 33, 34, 35 

Clupea carolinensis ; 17, 287 

Clupea dura laevi mystax 17 

Clupea elongata 142 

Clupea harengus 70 

Clupea meuada 17, 18 

Clupea menhaden 16,18,288 

Clupea ueglecta 16 

Clupea sadina 17 

Clupea tyrannus 15, 18 

Coast or ranging fishes 68, 69 

Codfish 51,61,69,92,106 

Cod fishery '2 

Cod-oil 193 

Cole, Mr 204 

Colburn, F.E 360,439 



ALPHABETICAL INDEX. 



521 



Collections of the National Musenm 

Collins, Mr 

Colors of nortliern and sontbern fish 

Comparative value of herring and menha- 
den for toll bait 

Composting fish fertilizers 

Compound- breathing fish 

Conarj' & Co 

Condon, J. C ... .49, SO, 165, 179, 180, 271, 274, 

Conflicts between bait fishermen and 
others 

Conley, John 

Connecticut, abundance of menhaden on 
coast of 

Connecticut, claims of, to first manufac- 
ture of oil 

Connecticut, factories in 

Connecticut, fisheries of 

Connecticut method of icing biit 

Connecticut smacks, consumption of bait 



i)y- 



Conner, Patrick 

Conover, Mr 

Cook, Charles & Co . ..106, 175, 182, 183, 296, 

Cook, Prof George H 79, 200, 205, 210, 

Cook, John W 

Cooking-tanks 

Coombs, Captain 

Correspondents, list of 

Corwin,H., & Co 

Cottle, Edmund 

Cones, Dr. Elliott 

Crandell, Capt. Jared S 43, 75, 8.5, 179, 

Crane, L. G- 

Critchet, George 

Crockett &Co. 

Crowell, Alexander 

Crowell, Elisha i 

Crowell, A. E 272, 

Crustacean, parasitic 

Cumberland Bone Company 

Cybium 

Cyclopterus lumpus 

Cymothoa praagustator 

Cynoscion carolinensis 

Cynoscion regalis 



Page. 

5 

205, 207 

33 

143 

247 

67 

165 

375, 376 

155, 156 
277 

85 

162 

1C6 

116, 507 

152 

151 

273, 478 

451 

297, 423 

228, 274 

83 

170, 171 

80 

271 

167, 446 

416 

20,92 

272, 427 

277 

143, 278 

169, 460 

83 

277 

488, 493 

101 

227, 491 

69 

69 

13, 102 

70, 106 

70, 106 



D. 

Dana, llichard H., jr 145, 161, 279 

Dana, William D 259 

Dankers and Sluyter 11,12,78 

Darwin, Charles 18, 37 

Darwin, Francis 264 

Darwin's menhaden 18 

Dates of appearance and disappearance of 

schools 53,506 

Davis, Mar.shall 114,271 

Davis, A. G 40,91,131,183,184,273,475 

Davis, E. A 78 

De Blois, E. T 81, 120, 272, 297, 360, 425 

Decrease, the probability of future 93 

Deirifz, T. C 272 

DeKay, Dr 3,36,79,199,274,275,286 

De la Blanchere, M. H 57 

Delaware, abundance 90 



Page. 
Delaware Bay 41 

Da Molon process, the 208, 209, 212, 213, 514 

Devoll, George 81, 123, 297 

D'Homergue, L. C 191,192,273,276,367 

Dibble, David 198 

Dill, Capt. HemanS 48,82,115,179,272,405 

Dinnel, Capt. Solomon 82 

Diseases of menhaden 101 

Dodd, A. W., & Co 398 

Dodge, Joshua T 272 

Doclge, Simeon 48, 75, 82, 85, 98, 115, 271, 399 

Domestic animals, fish as food for 250, 264 

Dominion, expurt of bait to 156 

Dorosoma Cepedianum 14 

Doubleday, E 289 

Dougherty, Charles 36,273 

Doughty, Capt. C 168,296 

Drag-net 131 

Dried fish, analysis of 228 

Dryiug fi.sh scrap 503 

Dudley, H. L 4, 32, 42, 44, 72, 74, 75, 85, 86, 90, 

105, 124, 168, 174, 175, 176, IS'), 181, 183, 210, 
272, 358, 360, 361, 362, 364, 365, 367, 493, 506 

Dunovan, Thomas ; 423 

Dur fee, Thomas 423 

Dwight, President 12,198,276 

E. 

Early writers, the testimony of 78, 507 

Eaton, William 277 

Eayrs, Winslow P 81 

Edwards, Capt. J.B 45,53,272 

Edwards, VinalN 4,45,289,290 

Ellwhop 15 

Ell-wife 15 

Emerton, J. H 4 

Enemies vt the menhaden 104 

England, Thomas 144,278 

English Government, claims of 157 

Etymologies 10 

Eucinostomus gula 14 

Eucinostomus Lefroyi 14 

Europe, success of fish guano as a fertil- 
izer in 218 

Excelsior "Works 109,477,478 

Exhaustion cf soil by various crops 231 

Exports of oil 503 

Extracts from writings of ichthyologists 
relating to the menh.aden 279 

F. 

Factories, advantages claimed for floating. 176 

Factories in Connecticut 166 

Factories in Maine 165 

Factories in Maine, erection of 164 

Factories in Massachusetts 165 

Factories in Xew Jersey 168 

Factories in New York 167 

Factories in Rhode Island 166 

Factories on Chesapeake Bay 168 

Factories, description of 171-173 

Factories on the southern coast 169 

Factory model in the National Museum.. 174 

Fairchild, Mr 358 

Fanshawe, Vice- Admiral 147 



522 



ALPHABETICAL INDEX. 



Page. 
FarriDgton, Professor, experiments of, on 
fish-scrap vs. corn-meal as food for sheep .200, 2G1 

262, 207 

Fatalities of menhaden 270 

Fat-back 7,14 

Feeding, what is essential to economy in . 255 

Fermentation of fish scrap 247 

Fertilizer, success of fish guano in Europe 

as a 218 

Fertilizers made from fish refuse 219 

Fertilizers, manufacture of fish, in the 

United States 218 

Fertilizers, menhaden and other fish in a 

fresh state used as 195, 48.3 

Fertilizers, valuations of commercial 235 

Feuds of fishermen 155 

Field.DavidD 199,276 

Film over the eyes of fishes CO 

Filter-press .. 178 

Fin-back whales 105 

Fins of menhaden 20,26 

"Fish-driver" 126 

Fish guano 236 

Fisb, Hon. Hamilton 51,62 

Fish-louse 102 

Fish-meal 2 

Fish refuse, fertilizers made from 219 

Fisheries, alleged destruction of tlO 

Fisheries, destructive influence of 110 

Fisheries, menhaden 113, 508 

Fisheries of great lakes, statistics 2 

Fishermen, estimates of number 114 

Fishes, coast or ranging 09 

Fishes, local or bottom C9 

Fishes, wandering or surface C9 

Fishing gangs, organization of 176, .508 

Fishing grounds, location of 113 

Fishing vessels 114,185,297,298 

Fishing with shore seines 134 

Fithian, William Y., & Co 87, 120, 167, 175, 183, 

18'J, 296, 298, 443 

Fitzgerald, Mr 1!)9 

Flanders, Kichard, & Co 416 

Flat-fishes C9 

Florida, abundance of menhaden 92 

Florida, movements of schools on coast of 39 

Flounders 2,51,69,151 

Fly -tail soiue 131 

Foes, predaceous 10-1 

Food of the menhaden 93 

Food materials, composition and valua- 
tions of various 256 

Food for animals, menhaden as 140 

I'ood, preparations derived from menhaden 137 

Ford, Avery & Co 169,296,460 

Fortin, Pierre L 64 

Foster, D.E 42,90,273,453 

Foster, Hon. Dwight G 146,158 

Fowler & Colburn 167,175,183,189 

Fowler, Foote & Co . .164, 105, 175, 183, 185, 186, 187, 

188, 29G, 297, 370, 371, 372 

Fowler, E. L . .208, 210, 439, 358, 360, 361, 303, 364, 305 

Foyn, Capt. Svend 216 

Fresh fish, analysis of the 228 

Friend, F.W 277 



Page. 

Friend, George, & Co 278 

Friend, Eobert A. . . .49, 79, 80, 165, 175, 180, 183, 185, 
186, 187, 188, 271, 274, 296, 309, 377, 378 

Frye, Jed., & Co 365 

Future increase or decrease 110 

G. 

Gadus morrhua C9 

Gage, George 27.3,479 

Galeocerdo tigrinus 69 

Gallup, B. F 360,301,364,365 

Gallup & Holmes. ..60, 81, 120, 104, 165, 175, 183, 185, 
186, 187, 188, 296, 297, 308, 369, 
370, 371, 372, 379, 382, 384, 403 

Gallup & Manchester 80, 297, 379, 383 

Gallup, Morgan & Co 164, 165, 175, 183, 185, 186, 

187, 188, 272, 296, 297, 368, 369, 370, 371, 372,.403, 417 

Gardiner Oil Works 167,428 

Gardiner's Bay, eleven factories in 189 

Gar-fish 106 

Generic relations of menhaden 18 

Geographical range of menhaden 35 

George's Banks fleet, consumption by 150 

George W. Miles Company, factory of 171 

Georgia, movements of schools on coast of 39 

Georgiamcn 150 

Gorring, Frederick 278 

Gifi'ord, Mr 121 

Gifibrd, Capt. John W 83 

Giftbrd, Warren A 83 

Gill, Capt. Eldad 83 

Gill, Herbert A 4,490 

Gill, Professor Theodore 18,20,135 

Gill-str;)iners 34 

Gilles, E. P 78 

Gilpin, Dr. Bernard 58, 59, 61 

Gizzard-shad 14 

Glover, Joseph 197 

Glover, W.H.H 108,296 

Goessman, Prof. C. A 4, 220, 237, 272, 485 

Goodale, Hon. S. L .2, 4, 37, 96, 129, 139, 140, 177, 210, 
213. 218, 220, 224, 25.-^, 262, 271, 2S9, 361, 302, 304, 307 

Goodalo's " Extract of fish " 139 

Goodale's press process 177,224 

Goode, Francis C 103,273 

Goodkind Brothers 414 

Goose-fi-sh 69 

Gorman, John E 278 

Grady, Thomas 278 

Graham, Capt. Hanson 82 

Grand Banks fleet, consumption of bait by 150 

Grant, John 49,80,104,271,378 

"Grappling" 104 

Gray, Albert, & Co... 164, 165, 175, 183, 18.5, 186, 187 
188, 296, 368, 369, 370, 371, 372 

Gray, Benjamin H 423 

Gray, Thomas F 166,296 

Green Brothers 167,296,298 

Green, H. P 448 

Green, J., & Co 423,44-1,446 

Greeutail 7,14 

Griflin & Vail 168,175,183,189,296 

Gronow, Theodore 276,287,289 

Ground-sharks 69 

Grouven, Dr 345 



ALPHABETICAL INDEX. 



523 



Page. 

Growth, rate of 31 

Guano 191,244 

Guano, statistics of 187 

Guano, Norwegian fish 214 

Guano, table amount produced by manu- 
factures of Maine Association 185 

Guano, statistics of manufacture 190 

Gulf menhaden 17,26,36 

Giiuther, Dr. C. A. G _ 17,274,276 

Gurnards 69 



H. 



Habit, alleged changes of, in menhaden . . 74 

Habits of herring 63 

Haddock 69 

Hakes 69 

Halibut 51,69 

Halibut fishery statistics 2 

Hall, James A 271 

Hall, J.F 273,481 

Hall, William D. . .163, 164, 168, 169, 203, 218, 296, 492 

HalUday, S.B 276 

Ham, W. A 273 

Hamilton, Ker. B 199 

Hannan, Eichard 143,278 

Hanson, Dr.K 215 

Hard-head 7,13 

Hard-head shad 7,135 

Hardy, Henry 278 

Hardy, Joseph 107 

Hardy, 2d, Capt. Josiah 46, 82, 115, 272, 273, 410 

Harker, F.J 169,296 

Harm, W. A 478 

Harrimau Point Company 377, 378 

Hastings, John 185,186,187,370 

Hatch, Capt.HeuryE 82 

Hatch, ^y.F 109 

Hathaway, A.J 83 

Hatsell, "W.F 183,273,477 

Hatteras region 113 

Havens, Mr 42,75,93,116 

Havens, J. S 168,296 

Havens, W.S 179,182,272,273,441 

Hawkins Brothers 42, 76, 87, 1 1 6, 120, 107, 108, 

182, 273, 274, 296, 297, 298, 443, 444, 446, 448 

Heath, Harrison 96 

Henneberg, Professor 254, 255 

Hermit-crab 102 

Herrick & Bayard 80 

Herring 2, 7, 11, 14, 16, 70, 92, 138, 142, 157, 506 

Herring family, conflict of names in 14 

Herring, movements of, as influenced by 

weather 72 

Hickory-shad 14 

Hickson, James 278 

Higgins & Gifford 5,120,122 

Hinckley, jr., Capt. Thomas 45, 272 

Hind, Prof. H. Y 36, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 63, 64, 97, 

100, 112, 147, 275 

Hinkley, Hon. J. T 205 

Hippoglossoides dentatus 51 

Hippoglossus vulgaris 69 

Hogle drying machine 502 

Holmes, William 361 



Page. 

Homans, F. "W 136 

Hoope &Coit 138 

Horse-mackerel 13,84 

Horton & Co 444,446 

Horton, E. A 278 

Howland, "W. H. H 106,175,182,188,296 

Hum prey, Mrs. B 80, 271, 387 

Hurlbert, Capt. Robert H 103, 152, 271, 277, 507 

Hyrtl, Prof. Joseph 34,35 

L 

Icing fish, methods of 152 

Inaccuracies of observation and state- 
ment 6 

Indians and early colonists, the use of fer- 
tilizers among 195 

Information, sources of 3 

Ingersoll, Ernest 508 

Ingham, K. E .... 43, 76, 85, 116, 179, 182, 210, 272, 433 

Inspection returns 136 

Internal organs 34 

Intestinal worms 104 

Introduction of the use of menhaden bait. 142 

Irenaius Pattersonii 94 

Irregularities of movements of menhaden . 46 

Isothermal lines 64 

J. 

Jackson, Prof. C. T 209 

Jameson, "William 4 

Jelly-fishes 95 

Jenkins, Dr. E. H 4, 273 

Jennett, Wallace K 91, 107, 273, 474 

J enyns, Eev. Leonard 18,30 

Johnson, Edward 196 

Johnson, H.W 64,140,279 

Johnson, Prof. S. W . . 140, 155, 177, 212, 225, 229, 237, 

256, 276, 362 

Jones, J. Matthew 36, 271 

Jones, Seaman & Co. .168, 175, 183, 189, 273, 296, 298, 

360, 444 

Jordan, Alden H 271,391 

Josselyn, John 15 

K. 

Kane, Capt. D. P 37,273,482 

Kane, P 377,378 

Kaiser & Martin 289 

KcUner, Mr 249,263,264 

Kel8ey,E.Il 167,175,189,296 

Kemps, Capt. David 39, 100, 108, 273, 481 

Kennedy, Andrew 5 

Kenniston, Cobb & Co ....80, 164, 165, 172, 175, 185, 

186, 187, 296, 368, 369, 370, 371, 372, 379, 382, 384 

Kenniston, G. B . .48, 75, 80, 97, 114, 179, ISO, 183, 271, 

274, 382, 384 

Kenniston, ■William 206 

Kenny, Capt. Reuben C 46, 82, 115, 179, 272, 414 

Key West, no menhaden at 36 

Knowles, Capt. Charles G. F 147, 273 

Knowlton,H 278 

Koch, Dr. Charles 273,482 

Koon, v., &Son 360,361,444 



524 



ALPHABETICAL INDEX. 



Paffe. 



Lady-flsh 69 

Laidlaw, George 144,278 

Lauman, Capt. Zephaniah P 82 

Latlirop,A.r 46,83,115 

Latrobe, Benjamiu H. . .15, 16, 17, 1 8, 19, 102, 274, 281 

Launce 'iO 

Lawes.J.B 258 

Lawler, Joseph 5 

Lawson, Hauce 41, 90, 93, 104, 117, 180, 273, 458 

Laurie, Andrew 144, 278 

Tjeeches, parasitic 104 

Legislation, protective 133 

Legislative interference 112 

Leidy, Prof. Joseph 102 

LeightoD, Andrew 278 

Length of menhaden 31 

Le Peley, M. Pleville 57 

Lepidosteus osseus 106 

Leslie, Charles C 40,169 

Lesueur, M 286 

Levy.M 217 

Lewis, Mr 208,218 

L'Hommedieu, Hon. Ezra 12, 78, 196, 197, 483 

Lighter boats 125 

Lillingston, B 42, 75, 76, 1 07, 272, 437 

Lillingston, F 87, 107, 116, 179, 272, 435 

Limits of geographical range of menhaden 

in 1877 35 

Limits, maximum of temperature 55 

Limits, minimum of temperature 53 

Line-fisherman, consumption of bait by 

mackerel 150 

Liparis 69 

Literature, bibliography of, relating to 

menhaden 274 

Local names and usages 6 

Local or bottom fishes 69 

Locomotive powers of the young men- 
haden 98 

Long Island, movement of schools on east- 
ern end of 42,507 

Long Island Sound region 42, 113 

Look, John 416 

Lophius piscatorius 69 

Lord, James 36,278 

Loring, David F 47,82,93,107,115, 

148, 272, 407, 409 

Loring, Thomas 82,115,272,403 

Lothrop, Alonzo F 272,412 

Loud's Island Oil Works 164, 165, 175, 183, 

185, 186, 187, 296, 368, 369, 370, 371, 373, 379 

Loveland.Mr 204 

Low, Maj. David W 150,151,277 

Lowrie, Charles 144,278 

Lubricating, menhaden oil for 191 

Luce Brothers 43, 85, 86, 120, 107, 175, 

183, 188, 272, 296, 297, 298, 418, 432, 433 

Luce, Edwin A 416 

Luce, Jason & Co 45, 83, 148, 179, 272, 416, 417 

Lugger-boats 275 

Lump-flsh 69 

Lyman, Col. Theodore 68,129,276 

Lyon, Governor Caleb 200 



Page. 



M. 



Mackenzie, George 145,278 

Mackerel 70,65,64,92 

Mackerel bait, preparation of 147 

Mackerel fishery 2 

Mackerel, growth of 32 

Mackerel, swimming habits of 71 

Mackerel, winter sojoui'U of 56 

Maclean, James R 144 

Maddocks, Luther 5, 50, 77, 112, 131, 132, 141, 

156, 164, 165, 177, 178, 181, 183, 181, 185, 180, 
187, 188, 223, 227, 271, 277, 296, 297, 358, 360, 
361, 362, 365, 372, 379, 382, 384, 386, 396, 403 

Maguire, John 278 

Maine, abundance of menhaden on the 

coast of 79 

Maine Oil and Guano Association 165, 178 

Maine Association, men employed in fac- 
tories of 187 

Maine Association, men employed in fish- 
eries of 187 

Maine Association, capital employed by 

manufacturers in 185 

Maine Association, average number of 
barrels of fish taken by fleet belonging 

to 186 

Maine Association, average number of 
gallons of oil produced by manufacturers 

of 186 

Maine Association, average number of 

steamers employed in fisheries of 186 

Maine Association, average number of tons 
of crude guano produced by manufact- 
urers of 185 

Maine Association, average number of 

vessels employed in fisheries of 185 

Maine, erection of factories in 164 

Maine, experience in use of fertilizers 200 

Maine farmers, success of, in feeding fish 

to sheep 259 

Maine, fisheries of 114 

Maine, Gulf of, menhaden 48, 50 

Maine, laws of 112, 132 

Maine, manufacture of guano in. 210, 223 

Maine manufacturers, annual sale of bait 

by 151 

Maine, menhaden fishing in 126, 507 

Maine, conflict of fishermen in 156 

Maine, the claiuis of, to the discovery of 

menhaden oil 161 

Mallotus villosus 70, 142 

Maltby,O.E 168 

Man and fisheries HO 

Manchester, Antony 166,296 

Manchester, Benjamin 166 

M.anchester, B. F :-... 296 

Manchester, Isa.ac D 297 

Manchester, James 166, 1 75, 182, 188, 296 

M.anning, Charles G 90,273,465 

Manokin Oil Works 169,296 

Manufacture of fertilizers, early attempt 

at 208 

Manufacture of fl sh manure 208 

Manufacture, processes employed in 170 



ALPHABETICAL INDEX. 



525 



Page. 

Manufacture, statistics of 190 

Manufacturers, meuhaden oil and gaano.. 296, 297 

Manure, fish as 200,248,205,514 

Manure, manufacture of fish 208 

Marchant, Captain 45,83,105,118 

Marcbant, C. B 272,416 

Markets, reviews of the oil 193 

Marsbanckers 11,12,13,78 

Marsh-banker 13 

Marsh bunker 13 

Marshall, W. W" 81 

Martha's Vineyard Sound, menhaden in .. 45 

Martin, Chandler 271,390 

Maryland and Virginia, abundance of men- 
haden on coast of 90 

Massachusetts, abundance of menhaden on 

the coast of 81 

Massachusetts, factories in 1G5 

Massachusetts fisheries 115 

Massachusetts inspections of pickled fish. 295 

Massachusetts, laws of 133 

Mattowacca 14,70 

Maylert,Dr 367 

Mayo, J. C 165,376 

McDonald, Daniel 144,278 

McDonald, Sir John 158 

McDonald, Lewis 80 

McDonald, Roderick 144,278 

McDonald, Samuel, esq 73 

McKay, James 146, 278 

McKeen, James G- 143,278 

McKinnon, Dougald 278 

McLean, James R 278 

McLellan, John 278 

McNiell, William S 278 

Measurements, table of 22, 23, 24, 25, 28, 29, 30, 31 

Mechanical methods of oil-extraction 178 

Megalops tbrissoides 69, 106 

Meinert, Dr. A 215,216,217 

Melanograramus£eglefinu8 (i9 

Men employed in fisheries 187 

Menhaden, origin of name 11 

Merchant, Horace M 82 

Merluoius bilinearis. 105 

Merrimac River, laws for 133 

Merrimac River and Salem Harbor, bait 

fishery in 148 

Merrimac River, mortality in 101 

Methods of capture of menhaden 113 

Methods of handling the net 123 

Methods of oil and guano manufacture. .. 220 

Micropterus nigricans 106 

Migrations 50,62,268 

Migrations of menhaden, arguments 

against, extended 65 

Milbert, M. M 286 

Miles Brothers 86 

Miles, George W 32, 33, 43, 65, 86, 116, 168, 

174, 179, 182, 272, 274, 437 

Miles, George W., Company 4, 87, 88, 165, 167, 

171, 175, 181, 182, 185, 186, 187, 188, 
189, 296, 297, 370, 371, 372, 43C, 439 

Milner. Mr. James "W" 97, 167,290 

Mint Head Company 431,432 

Mississippi Sound 36 



Page, 

Mitchill, Prof. S. L 3, 16, 17, 18, C3, 78, 101, 

105,274,275,286 

Morgan, Elisha 162 

Morris, Albert 42, 90, 107, 116, 180, 182, 273, 451 

Morris & Fifield 108, 175, 183, 169, 296 

Morse-honker 33 

Morton, Thomas 1 15,195 

Moss-banker 288 

Moss-bonker, the 13, 284, 287 

Moss-bunker 7, 9, 11, 12, 90, 111, 138, 163 

Mourt, George 196 

Mouse-bunker 13 

Movements of menhaden 268 

Movements of herring as influenced by 

weather 72 

Mud, bottom. Professor Verrill on 94 

Mud-minnow 67 

Mud-shad 14 

Mullet 60,70 

Munnawhatteaug 11 

Muscongus Oil Works 172,402 

Mustelus lasvis 41 

My rick, James H 277 

N. 

Name preferable for adoption 10 

Napeague, N. T., factory at 173 

Naphtha process 178 

Navragansett Bay region 44, 113 

Narragansett Oil and Guano Company 106, 423 

Nature, place of men baden iu 109 

Nelson, William H 277 

New England menhaden fishing 124 

New Hampshire, abundance 81 

New Jersey, abundance 90 

New Jersey, abundance 90 

New Jersey, factories 168 

New Jersey, movt ments of schools 42 

New York, abundance 87 

New York, early oil works in 162 

New York, factories in 167 

New York, fisheries of 116 

New York, hf.libut fleet 151 

Niokols, L., & Co 391 

Nichols, Thomas 297 

Nichols, Capt. William 37 

Nicholson, John 278 

Nickerson, Caleb 277 

Nickersou, -J. G- 185, 186, 187, 358, 402 

Nickerson, J. G., & Co 370, 379, 384, 386 

Nickerson, J. S 297 

Nitrogen from Guano, comparison of yield 

of fish scrap 191 

North American Oil Works 165, 296 

North Carolina, abundance on the coast of 91 

North Carolina, fat-back fishing in 131 

North Carolina, movements of schools on 

coast of 40 

Northern waters, a claim that menhaden 

maybe acclimated in 100 

Norton, C.B 178 

Norton, Professor 208 

Norton, Thomas 416 

Norton, Z.D 49 

Norwegian fish guano 214 



526 



ALPHABETICAL INDEX. 



Page. 

Korwood, George 82, 278 

Kumber of eggs in immature ovaries .... 96 

0. 

Object of the memoir 1 

Ocenn temperatures 52 

Ocean trout 10,138 

Oceanic sharks 69 

Oceanic sojourn 66 

Oil, a comparison of the yield of, of the 

■whale and other fisheries 190 

Oil business in Maine, inception of 104 

Oil, exports of 503 

Oil factories, locations of the 165 

Oil factory, cost of an 174 

Oil, grades of 192 

Oil, the claims of Maine to discovery of 

menhaden 161 

Oil, menhaden, use of 191 

Oil yield in dilferent localities 183 

Oil yield of northern fish 180 

Oil yield of southern fish 183 

Oil manufacture, history of 101, 513 

Oil mannfacturo, methods of 169 

Oil manufacture, principles involved in. . . 109 

Oil manufacture, statistics of 190 

Oil; number of gallons produced in Maine 186 

Old-wife 15 

01 in, Washington 393 

OKver, Washington 80,271 

Olmstead, Frederick Law 140 

Oniscus prsegnetator 17, 102 

Orcynus alliteratus 69 

Orcynus thynnus 69 

Osler.Samutl 213 

Osmerus mordax 70 

Otis, James E 163,175,183,189,296 

Ova of menhaden 97 

wen s, A. A 273, 453 

Oysters 2,95 

P. 

Pacific coast, menhaden on 37 

Pacific Guano Company 166,169,227,487 

Page, Captain 18 

Pagel, Dr . . . ._. 247 

Parasites of the menhaden 101 

Parnell, Mr 289 

Parsons, Joseph D 87,97,116,272,296,442 

Pauhagen 11 

Payne, Benjamin, & Co 167,446 

Payne, G.H 167,290,448 

Pelamyssarda 69,106 

Pemaquid Oil Works 164, 165, 185, 186, 187, 188, 

296, 297, 371, 372, 402 

Perley,M. H 64,274 

Perrin, Edwin A 84 

Pettingell, C. C 277 

Pettingell, Capt. Charles 82 

Pettingell, Capt. Moses 101, 136, 149 

Pettit, M 212,213,226 

Pew, Charles H 278 

Phillips, Barnet 4, 75, 135, 138, 273 

PhiUips, Ebon B . .104, 108, 115, 162, 165, 179, 181, 271, 
273, 376, 387, 401 



Page. 

Phosphate of lime 191 

Phy cis cbuss 69 

Pierce, Albion K 278 

Pierce, Erskiue 166,175,181,188,296 

Pierco.F.F 296,358 

Plant-food, essential ingredients of 231 

Plant nutrition, chemistry of 230 

Plumer, George W 82,278 

Poggie Jl 

Pogy 7,10,37,49,159 

Poisson blanc 68 

Poisson de fond 68 

Poisson de roche 68 

Poisson forain 68 

Poisson nomade 68 

Pollachius carbonarius 69,106 

Pollock 69,100 

Pomatomus saltatrix 1, 41, 70, lOG 

Pomolobus mediocris 70 

Pomolobus pseudoharengus 13, 14,70 

Pompano 70 

Pond, J. G - 82 

Pookagan 11 

Popular names 7, 9 

Porgy 11 

Porgv chum 141 

Possibilities of future oil manufacture 220 

Potter, Capt. William H 76, 85, 116, 272, 428 

Pound-fishermen 110 

Practical conclusions 249 

Prejudices and superstitions 6 

Preston, Jonathan, & Co 444,448 

Price, Capt. F. Frank 167, 168, 297, 444, 446, 448 

Prices current of menhaden oil 193, 299, 300, 

301, 302, 303 

Prices of menhaden, different seasons 178 

Prices proportionate to amount of oil con- 
tained in fish 180 

Proctor, .Joseph O 150 

Pryer, Jasper . 165, 167, 168, 175, 187, 273, 296, 364, 503 

Purse-boat 126 

Purse-seine 117,118,124 

Q. 

Quinnipiac Fertilizer Company... lOG, 169, 175, 176, 

183, 188, 227, 296, 297, 428, 432, 493 

Quiambog Oil Company 167, 428, 432 

E. 

Race, EdwardE 81 

Eadde, Mr 217 

Kafinesque, C. S 276 

Kaugo of menhaden, oceanic limits of ... . 36 

Eange of allied species 37 

Kan ge, preferred, of temperature 55 

Pange, southern limits of 36 

Pay nor, J. Norrisou 1 68, 273, 296, 443 

Rayuor, W. C 168,296 

Rays 69 

Eease, Captain 83 

Reed, H. W 273 

Refining, processes employed in 170 

Relation of the menhaden fishery to the 

fishermen and maritime villages . 131 

Relative values of different fertilizers .... 244 



ALPHABETICAL INDEX. 



527 



Page. 
Eemorag 60 

Keports, menliaden oil 304 

Ilepro;hiction of menhaden 269 

Eovisiou of the American species 18 

Ehode Island, abundance of menhaden in 84 

Ehodo Island, earl.y manufacture in 209 

Ehode Island, factories in 166 

Eice, John 61 

Eich,M.N 277 

Eichardson, Sir John 274 

Eichardson, Henry 41,90,273,404 

Eimbaud's classification criticised 68 

Eobbins, Isaac D 107,273,460 

Eoccus lioeatus 70, 106 

Eohart, M 217 

Eomer, William 378 

Eoosevolt, Eobert B 110 

Eose-liahes 69 

Eosing, Anton 141 

Eouad barrel 179 

Bound Pond Company. . . .164, 165, 175, 185, 186, 187, 
188, 296, 368, 369, 370, 372, 379, 402 

Eudder fishes 69 

Eyan, Martin 144,278 

Eyan, Philip 144,278 

S. 

Sailing-vessels 122,298 

Salem Harbor, bait fishery in 148 

Salmon 69 

Salmon fishery of Columbia Eiver 2 

SalmouidiB 133 

Salmo salar 69 

Salt Island Oil Company 167 

Salt mackerel replaced by menhaden 136 

Salt, drawback on 136 

Salts, potash 269 

Sanders, Capt. John D 273,451,452 

Sandy Hcok region 113 

Sardine, American 10,148 

Sardines, manufacture of 137 

Sardines, qualities of American 138,512 

Sargent, W. H.50, 75, 79, 80, 114, 128, 179, 180, 271, 373 

Sartell, Capt. W. S 75, 76, 60, 271, 391 

Saunders, John E 143,278 

Scad 13 

Scales of menhaden 20, 34 

Scheibler, Dr 215 

Schmidt, Professor 214 

Schooling njenhaden, habits of 70 

Schools, arrival and departure of 38 

Schools, birds attracted by 71 

Schools, evolutions of 95 

Schools, movements of the 70 

Schubler, F. C 215 

Scomber scombrus 70 

Scott, Capt. P. A 147 

Sculpins 51,69 

Scnp 1,2,57,70 

Sea-bas9 51, 67, 70 

Sea-herring 51 

Seal-oil, annual production of 190 

Sea-shad 14 

Sea-trout 100 

Secretary of Treasury 3 

Seine-boats 120 



Seine-setter 126 

Seining, best time for 124 

Selden, G. Henry 273,461 

Seriola zoiiata 69 

Settling-tanks 170 

Seymour, Horatio 110 

Shad 2,14,15,16,32,69 

Shadine 10,133 

Sharks 84,105 

Shaw, John 58 

Sheepshead 70 

Shepard, Joseph 39,273,479 

Shiner 7 

Shiverick, Mr 490 

Shrimp 94 

Siluridse 106 

Simmons, Amassa 266,296 

Simpson, jr., A. W . .40, 41, 73, 76, 91, 94, 100, 106, 117, 
131, 273, 465, 470, 471 

Sinclair, Peter 62 

Sisson, Capt. B. H. . . .42, 75, 87, 105, 116, 162, 167, 174, 
179, 182, 272, 273, 445 

Slicks 95 

Slivering menhaden 147 

Slivers 142,147,148,150 

Sluy ter. Bankers and 11, 12, 78 

Small, A. W 277 

Smalley,C.E 277 

Smelt 70 

Smith, Mr 205,207,275 

Smith, Cyrus 168,176,183,189,296 

Smith,Edward M 110 

Smith, Green & Co 163,296 

Smith, J.V.C 11 

Smith, Capt. Nathanael 79 

Smith, Philip 272 

Smith, Prof Sidney I 3, 102, 103 

Smith, Sylvauus 143,151,277 

Smith, ThomasP 279 

Smith & Yarrington 1 68, 175, 183, 189, 296 

Soil, exhaustion of, by various crops 231 

Soil, materials removed from, by various 

crops 232 

Solan goose Ill 

Somers Point Oil Works 452 

Sources of error in investigation 5 

South Bay Oil Company 168,296 

South, meuhaden fisheries in 117 

South Saint George Oil Works. -.164, 165, 175, 185, 
186,187,296,372 

Southern coast, factories on 169 

Southwick, J. M. K 148,200 

Southworth, John 166,296,360 

Spanish mackerel 51 

Spawning of menhaden 99,507 

Spear-fish 69 

Sphyrajna borealis 69 

Spicer, Capt. WilliamE 37 

Spices, menhaden preserved in 138 

Spindel, Capt. Isaiah 45,108 

Spis& Martin 17,18,21,34,276 

Sprague, WiUiam P 80 

Squeteague 2,70,84 

Stannaid, George, & Co 86 

Stapleton, Edward 277 

1 Steamers, menhaden 122,186,297,508 



528 



ALPHABETICAL INDEX. 



Page. 

Stearns, Silas 273 

Steendam, Jacob 11,12 

Steindacliner, Prof. Franz 27,5 

Stenotomns argyrops 1,12,70 

Steiiiug Company 167, 298, 444 

Stoveus, LientenantGovernor 85 

Stewart, Prince & Co 416 

Stock, fisli as food for 2C6 

Stoddard, "Walter P 4 

Stoeckliard t, Profes-sor 213, 215, 218, 229, 259 

Stohman, Mr 255 

Stokes, Capt. J. L 43, 86, 183, 272, 434, 435 

Stomach contents, examination of 94 

Storer, Dr. D. H 3, 18, 274, 276, 283, 285, 286 

Story, Cyrus 271 

Stosh 148 

Stowe,W 271 

Strickland, Mr 451 

Striped bass 70,106 

Studies of young fish 98 

Striker 126 

Subspecies 20,21 

Suffolk Oil and Guano Works 80, 161, 165, 

lYS, 183, 185, 186, 187, 188, 296, 
368, 369, 370, 371, 372, 373, 384 

Surface fishes 09 

Surface, movements of menhaden to and 

from the 71 

Surface temperatures 291 

Swett.Noah 277 

Swift, Frank 168 

Swimming habits of menhaden and mack- 
erel 35, 71 

Sword-fish 2,09,106 



Table-fi.sh, menhaden as 

Tallman, Binijamin 

Tallman, Capt. Lortuzo 

Tanneries, menhaden oil in. 



1.^5 
45 

as 

191 

Tarpum 69,106 

Tarr,George J 398 

Tarr, James G 143,278 

Tarr, Judson & Co 48, 81, 115, 170, 171, 180, 185, 

186, 187, 271, 274, 308, 369, 379, 385, 391, 402 

Tautog 51,67,69 

69 

105 

278 

55 

55 
294 
160 



Tautogaonitis 

Taylor, EE 

Taylor, John F 

Temperature, maximum limits of 

Temperature, range of, preferred by men- 
haden 

Temperature, tables of 

Testimony and allidavits, references in 

Tetrapturus albidua 69, 106 

Theory of extended migi'ation 62 

Theory of hibernation 56 

Thompson, Benjamin F 276 

Thresher sharks 105 

Thurston, B.,& Co ...' 277 

Thy sanopoda 94 

Tice, Benjamin 273,457 

Tides, influence of, on menhaden 74 

Tilloy.Jabez 61 

Todd, A. L 4 



Page. 

Toll bait 142,148 

Tory, James A 278 

Tower, N. B 83 

Trachynotua carolinus 70 

Trade-names of menhaden 10 

Treat, U.S., & Son 211 

Trelethen, George 277 

Trout 1U6 

Trnmbnll, Prof. J. Hammond ... .10, 11, 12, 195, 272 

Tunnies 51 

Tunny 69 

Tuthill, Capt. George 167, 179, 196, 197, 296, 358, 

304, 365, 442, 446 

Tuthill &Co .370,371,372,443 

Tuthill, French & Co 164,105, 175,185,186, 

187,188,296,297 
Tweddale, Marquis of 73 

U. 

Uhler, Prof P.K 275 

Union Factory 379, ,391, 402 

United States, reply of agent of 158 

United States menhaden statistics 187 

Unittd States Menhaden Gil and Guano 
Association 191,358 

V. 

Vail & Benjamin 446 

Vail, Benjamin, &Co 167,448 

Vail, UavidF 272,358 

Vail, DavidG 442,447 

Valenciennes, M 275, 276 

Valuation of fertilizers 235,495 

Value of fish for manufacturers' use 178 

Van Corlear, Antony 13 

Variations of menhaden 30 

Variations in the schools 31 

Variety 20,21 

Verrill, Profes.sor A. E 3,94,102,275 

Vessels, number of j 114, 185 

Vessels, list of 297,298 

Virginia, movements of schools 41 

Virginia, fisheries of 117 

Virginia Oil and Guano Company 108, 296 

Vliet, Captain Van 289 

Voelcker, Mr 213 

Vohl, Mr 217 

von Freedon, Herr 72 

W. 
Wails, B.L.C 289 

Waites, Benjamin 296 

Waley &Co 166,176,183,188,296 

Wandering fishes 68,69 

Warner, W. W 168,297 

Warren, Captain 130 

Washburn, J 179 

Washburue, jr., J 48,75,114,271,388 

Washington, Capt. John 43, 75, 85, 272, 430 

Wasson, Mr 140, 141 

Wasson, Hon. Samuel 260 

Waste of fish fertilizers 230 

W.atson, Capt. Kathaniel 118 

Way, Professor 213 

Weakfish 106. 



ALPHABETICAL INDEX. 



529 



Page. 

V\'ebb, Capt. Henry E 507 

Weber, ilr 2tii 

Webster, Prof. H. E 290 

Weekes, Capt. Darius F 83 

Weight of menhaden 31 

Weir fishing at Waquoit 12^ 

Weir fishing for menhaden 129 

Weiske, Mr 263 

Welch's Point Oil Company 167,439 

Wells & Co. - . 164, 165, 175, 185, 1S6, 187, 188, 296, 403 

Wells, Daniel D 162, 1C3, 164, 442, 448 

Weils, Deblois & Brown 379 

Wells, D., & Sous 107,444,440,448 

Wells, Henry E 163, 167, 297 

Wells, Walter 97 

Wells, W. A., &Co 368,369,370,371,372 

Westbrook Oil Company 176, 189, 297 

Whale, analysis of flesh and bones of 228 

Whale fisheries, statistics of 2 

Whale, flesh of the 229 

Whale-lice 102 

Whale-oil 192 

Whale, steamed bones of the 229 

Whales '. 104 

Whaley, Joseph 44, 76, 272, 449 

Whelen, Mauris 278 

Whitchor, W. F 63,64 

White, Prof. Charles A 141 

Whitefish 7, 12, 60, 68, 84, 164 

White, Gilbert 57 

White, Is,iac 296 

White, Isaac, & Co 160, 176, 182, 188 

White, J. G 365 

White-shad , 14 

W hite Wine Brook Company 104, 165, 384 

Whiteaves, J. F 36, 100, 274, 275 

Whiting or silver hake 106 

Whitten, O. B 277 

34 F 



Page. 
Wife 15 

Wilcox, Charles O 423 

Wilcox & Crittenden 5, 121 

Wilcox, Capt. Leander 76, 85, r:72, 427, 428, 431 

Wilcox, Leander, & Co 166, 170, 182, 188, 297 

Wilcox & Manchester 166,296 

Wilder, Moses L 78,260,264 

Wilut, Mr 249,263 

Wilkin.son, S. H 36,273 

Willard, Enoch G 277 

Willard, H. E 277 

Williams, Rogers 11 

Wilson, Job T 297,361,370,423 

Wilson, Job T., & Co 166, 175, 182, 185, 186, 

187, 188, 377, 378 

Wind and weather, intiuence of 72 

Winter sojourns of fishes ... 56 

Wiuslow, Capt. S. n 82 

Well', A. G 42, 90, 103, 116, 180, 162, 273, 450 

Wolft', Dr. Emil 256,203 

Wonson, FredcricG 126,278 

Wonson, W. C 278 

Wray ton, Michael 278 

Wurdemann, G. B 36,289 



Xiphias gladius 69, 106 



Tarrell, William 64 

Yarrow, Dr. H. C 20, 92, 273, 275, 290 

Yellow-tail 7,33 

Yellow-tailed shad 14 

Yield, possible, of extract of fish 140 

Z. 



Zoological names of menhaden. 
Zostera marina 



Plate I. 




Plate II. 




Plate III. 




Plate IV. 




Plate V. 




Plate VI. 




Plate VII. 




I 



Plate VIII. 



^ 












-Si 






555 



s ■ 



^ 




vn 



tj 



4-0 



35 



30 



2J 



Fli 




/ 



pa 

tec 
1 



90 



ij 



4-0 



MAP 
MENHADEN 

mtd Oil ciftd GyUfuno I^actonej. 



35 



Z5 



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^/L. 



<'f>f 




.^;J'°n. "" '■ teave ,ae Oct i^""*- 









'■'i October %■ Nov 






'°°>s drrifve m April fc^AAa^, 



^"^ //I (Vovembe 



'°o/s arrive ;l ate in /^pri'. 
X-/ '-Pave ,„ iivovember. 



•'^-*. 



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^^ 



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rf<i 



/io(\. Schools present in Wirtter. 



-<•/. 



P/VJ- 



'"^'*'' »eaf/j,Apnl; Leave In 0^'^'' 



^eeTinucias. 



'UV-/ 



«re> 




Schoolir 'g gi-OLfncls of Menhaden. 



I Fishing grounds. 



Desertec ^ Schooling grounds. 



$ 



cale 



ol miles. 



■ 10c 



'■iS 



60 



Fig. 12. 



Plate X. 




Plate XI. 




Plate XII. 



o 


NEW YORK TO BERMUDA 


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y 800 
















1 




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y 1000 














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HORIZONTAL SCALE OF NAUTICAL WILCS. 





Plate XIII. 



HALIFAX TO BERMUDA 



laa 




HORIZONTAL SCALE OF NAUTICAL MILES 



Plate XIV. 




Plate XV. 




Plate XVI. 




Plate XVII. 




!3 






Plate XVIII. 



/ 



en 



H 


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n 

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Plate XIX. 













1 -' I'llll' ll 1 ! 


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i' 


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Plate XX. 




Plate XXL 






CO 




Plate XXII. 




Plate XXXIII. 



in 







Z 



3 



U 




Plate XXIV. 




Plate XXV. 



,.r:.,AJll|llil^'l!!l!'llllli!'!e^^ 







Plate XXVI. 




Plate XXVII. 







Fig. 45. 




Fig. 46. 



Plate XXVIII. 




Plate XXIX. 




Plate XXX. 




Plate XXXI. 




r 






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